Human Domination: Anvils of War
by KevinYu
Summary: Through mud and blood, humanity is unified. They ascended to the stars and forged brotherhoods and friendships. There was what people thought as eternal peace, until a zealous species plunged humanity back to the madness of war and changed the face of the Galaxy for millenia to come. *Rewrite of Humanity's Fury* *Renamed from Humanity's Fury*
1. Prologue

**_"Greetings citizen, I am Exuberant Lore Keeper: AI monitor of Imperial Information Website Wikipedia, where you will find all the knowledge the Imperium has accumulated over the span of Mankind's existence as a modern civilization. The link you are now at is a short, non-detailed but important time line regarding the Imperium's rise from a global power to a galactic superpower. Please enjoy reading the article!"_**

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1945-1946: World War 2 ends with significant civilian and military casualties. Almost immediately, the Soviet Union and the United States of America became bitter rivals and formed their respective blocs: communist bloc and capitalist bloc. Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech caused an outrage amongst Warsaw Pact Nations, resulting the official start of the Cold War.

1947-1960: A series of proxy wars are fought between the US and USSR, resulting in hundreds of thousands of casualties. While the infamous Berlin blockade also significantly increased the tensions between the two blocs. It was also at this time that the communist bloc formed the Warsaw Pact Nations while the capitalist bloc formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin died at age 74 on 1953, Nikita Khrushchev succeeded him. Talks regarding the fate of the then-divided Germany broke down when a US spyplane was shot down at Russian airspace. Cold War continues.

1961-1970: US spyplanes discovered a nuclear missile base on Cuba, resulting in a massive naval blockade ordered by President John. F. Kennedy, who demanded that the Cuban Government disarm their missile and nuclear arsenal. They refused and the United States launched the invasion of Cuba, 9 months after the invasion Cuba has been annexed to the United States.

Soviet Union criticises the attack as "an unprovoked attack on the Cuban people and their culture". Shortly afterwards, the Union begins massive military build up, as did the United States.

1971-1990: World War 3 begins when the Soviet Union launched an invasion of Alaska, US army repelled attack with the help of Delta Force. When the war began, China invaded south-east Asia and Japan, North Korea invaded South Korea, while Europe once again became a ground of mud and blood. Despite going on fiercely, the nations of both sides still refused to use their nuclear armaments due to the risks of creating a nuclear winter.

In 1976, war effort starts to tip in NATO's favour as Powered Assault Armour is developed and refitted on all infantry units, significantly boosting their combat performance and survivability in heated fire fights. M1 Abrams entered service and deployed against Warsaw troops, which thoroughly decimated their tanks as the Titanium-made American main battle tank wrecked havoc across the battlefield.

In 1980, fusion reactors has been developed and replaced nuclear reactors in NATO territory. Warsaw is also captured at this same year, remaining Warsaw Pact forces gathered at Moscow defence line, fully expecting NATO to pursuit. They didn't.

On the Eastern Front, Japan's Navy began to push back the Chinese Navy with support from the ANZAC Navy while South Korean Front became a stalemate when Canadian Forces and 2 Divisions of United States Marines arrived to assist the South Korean Army. Soviet Union and China diverts a task force to support the Korean Front in hopes of ending the stalemate soon and take South Korea for it's strategic value.

In 1990, Warsaw Pact forces were caught surprised as NATO forces launched a massive blitzkrieg via armoured assault, airborne assault and air strikes. After a full month og fighting, much of the surviving Warsaw Pact Forces mutinied out of resentment against the Khrushchev regime, beginning the Second October Revolution. Khrushchev is overthrown and a federal democratic Russia is formed. World War 3 officially ends, Imperium of Man formed from NATO and all other nation around the world in order to unify humanity with a centralised rule.

1991-2000: A mysterious individual known only as the Emperor became the leader of the Imperium through merits in the fields of science, politics and military tactics, After his ascension to Imperial Chancellor, he began a series of reforms that left almost all of Earth's various nations' culture untouched while, unknowingly to the rest of the world, usurped their power and became the sole ruler of all humans.

In 1995, he and a thousand experts in the field of genetics initiated the 'Primarch' project, whose purpose is to create 23 transhuman generals to lead the Imperium's future armies. Their genetic templates were based on the Emperor's own gene code, which was stated by some of the geneticist as a 'beautifully pure and sophisticated' genetic sequence, exclaiming that only God may have such perfection.

As a result of the geneticist's words, a religion centred around the Emperor began to rise. The Emperor openly criticises the religious cults and instead of venerating himself as a God, he promoted the Imperial Truth, which is the belief that no obstacle cannot be overcome with logic, reason and technology. The Emperor also encouraged scientific institutes and organisation begin researching technologies to solve the problems of pollution and famine.

2001-2010: Replicator and Nano-processing technologies invented. When introduced, these technologies not only increased the efficiency of manufacturing and made supplies near limitless, but also revolutionising the way human industry and economies work.

In 2005, the Emperor officially proclaims his rule as Emperor of Mankind. While the proclamation was shocking to most, it was a welcomed proclamation as during the rule of the Emperor, there was no famine, no conflict and no division. Only unity, progress, and advancements. During his 15 year rule, the average human lifespan was increased to more than 150 years old thanks to concentrated efforts of the world's scientific community, while new technologies such as cybernetics and cloning technology, helped the blind and crippled to regain their ability to see and use their limbs respectively.

Genetic breakthroughs after analyzing the Emperor's genes also found ways to negate many previously incurable diseases, which took the lives of millions. In addition to that, genetic breakthrough also helped the Imperium develop a moderate enhancement in regards to strength, intelligence and reflexes. Making the entire Human population 'superhumans', realizing the long dream for a individually strong species.

2011-2020: In 2011, the Primarchs are born from their incubators and are raised by the Emperor, Malcador the First and the rest of the Emperor's personal advisors. They are put to schools in Hive Himalayas to interact with the very people they serve and protect. Then they are trained to hone their psychic might inherited from their 'father'. And at finally they will be trained in the art of Warfare and Leadership, making them some the most powerful beings ever to exist in Galactic history.

In 2015, Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey suggested multiple supersoldier programs, namely the 'Custodian', 'Master of the Stars', 'SPARTANS' and 'JAVELIN' programs. After much review and calculations, the Emperor diverted gigantic amounts of fundings and personnel to help complete all 4 programs. At the same time, the Physics Research Division has completed the very first AI, Adam.

*PLAY VIDEO*

"Am... am I alive?" Adam asked, looking at the scientist in front of him.

The scientist smiled at him, "Only if you think you are." He replied.

*VIDEO END*

The short dialogue between organic and synthetic life sent ripples across Earth, most of whom are highly supportive while the remainder remained sceptical about the AI's sentience. A week later, the Emperor announced the official formation of the 'Sapiens Creata' species, which meant 'Wise Created', people have come to call them Created. Immediately, The Physics Research Division created Eve, the second AI based on the Bible's first human female. When the 2 AIs had an affection for each other and 'mated', Eve gave 'birth' to Romulus and Remus.

The news had more than been able to convince the Human populace that the AIs they created, were not only smart, but also had feelings like they do. And as such considered sentient.

In 2018, AIs have become an important element in Imperial society, their skill sets devoted to monitoring, coordination and analysis, greatly increasing working efficiency and effectiveness on a fields. It was also at this year that Luna, moon of Earth, is terraformed by the Imperium. Upon completion, hundreds of thousands of Humans migrated to it's prefabricated cities, giving birth to the first Human Void colonist.

From late 2018 to 2020, Earth experienced a massive baby boom, the average birth numbers of babies increasing by a massive 400 percent. The Emperor also began developing gene-crafted humans, which are non-identical but 'perfect' humans for use in the military and other projects. Primarchs also began exhibiting their transhuman powers, earning much awe from the people.

2021-2030: Luna has been fully colonised, hundreds of billions now lived in the small satellite while tens of trillions lived on Earth. Problems of pollutions and wildlife protection solved as Imperial Military began 24-hour all day monitoring all around Earth, ground troops deployed near country parks to protect endangered species and apprehend poachers while wet naval forces began apprehending illegal fishermen at open waters.

In 2021, Gene-crafting technology completed. Emperor ordered the mass production of hundreds of trillions of gene-crafted humans produced in order to significantly increase the Imperium's military prowess. The first batch of the 'products', which numbers in the millions, was completed in 2 months thanks to various methods to accelerate their initial growth rate. 2 months after they were born, they already have the size of a 4 year old child and are having Secondary School level education. During their education, they socialised with their own 'kin' and as a result, formed a 'family'.

In late 2021, the Gene-crafted humans have completed their education as Secondary School students and are sent to train in the completed JAVELIN Program, they are pushed to the limits in physical and mental training. Many were broken and rebuilt from scratch mentally by the intense training but as time passes by like the flow of water, the bond between gene-humans grew, increasing overall effectiveness in coordination.

In 2027, their training were completed and they proceeded to accept the Javelin augmentations. The process was smooth and fortunately no one died or rejected the augmentations, creating the very first supersoldiers for Humanity. They then received extremely harsh and brutal training again to help them adapt to their new powers and prepare them in case of a need for combat.

In 2030, The Primarchs have completed their education in all fields of science, and are personally trained by the Emperor and his group of advisers on various tactics and to teach them on harnessing their powers, which is a very hard task for the Emperor since the Primarchs are almost as strong as him. At the same year, the Imperial Bureau of Scientific Development and Applications (BSDA) has successfully developed the Slipspace drive, a method of faster than light travel. The invention of the Slipspace technology was celebrated across Earth and Luna. Hundreds of colony vessels carrying billions of civilians and hundreds of prebabricated cities are launched from the shipyards of Earth to the once-red desert planet.

2031-2040: Every habitable planet and satellite across the Sol System is terraformed and colonised. Human population skyrocketed by another baby boon that increased the already-high birth rate by 200 percent. The boom caused concerns over Imperial officials, who recognised its risks if the Imperium cannot provide sufficient care to their rapidly growing population. As such, hundreds of trillions worth of funding from the Imperial Treasury Reserves have been diverted to construction efforts of more prefabricated cities and the industrialisation of Luna, Earth and Mars in order to create job opportunities to the newborn infants.

In 2033, 'Master of the Stars' program completed. Hundreds of billions of gene-crafted humans and tens of billions of birth-born humans are recruited to the program to become the main fighting force of the Imperium. At the same time, the 'Custodian' and 'SPARTAN' programs are completed and billions are recruited to the program to begin training. Javelin supersoldiers also number at more than 15 billion members ranging from birth-born to gene-crafted. Despite the differences in background and lifestyle, both types of humans got along well and some even formed small brotherhoods and sisterhoods.

In 2036, Doctor Halsey and a group of other Imperial scientists developed a brand new alloy dubbed 'Vibranium', which is named after a fictional metal in the old superhero comics that were popular in the past due to their similar properties. The alloy was lightweight and very easy to produce. Imperial Construction Divisions immediately began using the new metal to rebuild their old cities and produce new ones while BSDA began using it to produce brand new technologies for the planned Imperial Armed Forces.

In 2040: An unknown scientist accidentally invented a time-dilation field while testing his modified version of Slipspace drive. The scientist was personally praised by the Emperor for such an amazing invention and was given the order to oversee it's real production model. It was also at this year that the Plasma Reactor was developed, which replaced Nuclear power sources across the Imperium.

2041-2050: A city on Mars began planning a rebellion for independence after the Imperium refuses to abide by the request. Javelin Division Alpha is sent to destroy the rebels. The 200,000 strong supersoldier army invaded the rebellious city in a lightning assault and were victorious. During the battle, the rogue city governor took the 20 billion innocent civilians hostage by threatening the detonation of a nuclear bomb. Luckily that didn't come to fruition thanks to the supersoldiers.

*PLAY VIDEO*

"Sta... stay back!" The Governor shouted, his left hand gripping the detonator button for the nuclear bomb. While the other holding a pistol that is pointing at the 5 Javelins in front of him.

"Calm down, sir! This is your one chance to end this alive and well!" One of the Javelins shouted desperately.

"I said STAY back!" The Governor said forcefully, the Javelin was about to refuse again when someone contacted him. Then he signalled his team and fell back, the Governor turned around and was about to leave when suddenly, a Javelin de-cloaked in front of him and with a hard kick to his left, dropping the detonator. The Governor then fired his sidearm at the onyx black supersoldier but was shocked to see that the magnetically accelerated armour piercing round merely bouncing off at an energy shield. The Javelin then proceeded to kill the Governor with a hard punch to the neck, twisting it to abnormal angels and letting the body twitch uncontrollably.

The Javelin then turned to his supposed squad leader and saluted," Sir, target elimination confirmed." He said in a calm, yet emotionless voice.

"Good, let's secure the room. The Army should be here in a moment."

*VIDEO END*

The battle earned them the nickname 'Super ninjas' by Imperial citizens as they killed the leader of the rebellion using no weapons. The battle would later be known as the Martian Insurrection, afterwards 2 billion Army personnel are sent to maintain peace and order to the cities there.

In 2044, Pirates began becoming common on shipping lanes between Earth and her Colonies, disrupting supply lines and creating disorder. The Emperor answered the outlaws by unveiling the Imperium's first warship: IMS New Age. It is a 800 meter warship armed with a few dozen laser batteries and hundreds of missiles, it's first battle was against 20 pirate vessels modified out of civilian freighters. The battle was a huge success as the New Age mercilessly pounded the pirates with it's advanced weaponry and outright obliterated them. By the end of the year, pirate activity has plummeted.

In 2046, Gene-breakthrough by BSDA allowed them to create the Immortality Serum for immortality, nanite injections, cybernetic augmentations, mechanical augmentations and biological augmentations for higher intelligence, higher muscle density, stronger muscle strength and bones, and massively increased reaction speeds. The enhancements were made available at clinic and tens of billions visited the clinics every year, estimated time for completion at 20 years.

In 2047: The Primarchs have completed their own training and are sent by the Emperor to help train the large numbers of Custodians, Masters of the Stars and Spartans. New groups of candidates also joined various programs to serve the Imperium while hundreds of millions began enlisting in the BSDA to use their intelligence to help the Imperium advance technologically.

In 2050, Time dilation field generator completed, it is then installed inside the Imperial Palace, keeping it safe while using it's powers to create a slipspace bubble that creates a time difference ratio of 100:1 between affected space and realspace, effectively cheating on the flow of time. At the same year, first group of Masters of the Stars completed their training; they later called themselves Adeptus Astartes, which has the same meaning, and was approved by the Emperor and his biological sons.

2051-2100: The Age of Expansion. The Time Dilation field expanded, and many worlds became affected by the field. The Emperor ordered a massive expansion effort to colonise all these worlds so as to maintain the rapid and massive population growth. Millions of colony vessels are built and in each of them carried billions of citizens and dozens of prefabricated cites, as well as the necessary terraforming equipment in case the planets are uninhabitable. The colonist are sent to cryogenic sleep to preserve supplies while the massive fleet used their improved slipspace drive to reach their intended destination.

In 2053 realspace, all worlds chosen for expansion terraformed and colonized by the Imperium, the number of humans are now in the tens of quadrillions without any signs of stopping. By now, around 2 trillion Astartes have been recruited and trained while the other supersoldier branches now number from 100 million to an overwhelming 100 billion. It was also at this year that the 'ORION' program was initiated by conducting more augmentations on the already augmented troops of the Imperial Army, granting them strengths above regular civilians and thus, easier to do their duties.

In 2057 realspace, Slipspace technology is improved again, this new version allowed for 100 light years per second, effectively creating instantaneous FTL travelling. Every Imperial world had an economic boom thanks to the new slipspace drive. It was also at this year that Project 'Olympus' was initiated. It's objective is to make every world into a impregnable fortress. The undertaking of the project is given to Primarchs Rogal Dorn and Perturabo to complete.

In 2060 realspace, after years of attempted particle manipulation, the Imperium finally succeeded in creating a replicator. The replicator effectively ended the need for automated factories and processing facilities as the replicator can do it all. Records show that during a (time dilation) 50 year test, It's efficiency in production of high military grade parts for personnel weaponry and starships were increased by 300 percent. As such replicator technologies quickly replaced factories and were even installed on starships.

In 2073 realspace, first contact occurred. A Forerunner fleet accidentally hit an Imperial patrol ship and caused 200 deaths, tensions quickly cooled when the Forerunners were able to explain their actions and soon they became best allies. Forerunner science groups openly work with Imperial science groups to help understanding their respective technologies, military exercises and occasional military exchange programs are conducted between both sides, greatly strengthening their bond as brothers in arms. Project 'Olympus' also completed, forming a impregable galactic fortress, relations between the 2 Primarchs also strengthened by the cooperation. Project 'Utopia' initiated with the intention of standardizing Imperial governance, all Primarchs participate in the project along with their Astartes 'sons'.

In 2075 realspace, Project 'Utopia' completed, every planet is now governed by an Astartes Captain-Governor, while a sector under an Astartes Senior Captain-Governor and all the planets split into 5 different segmentums under the rule of an Astartes Tetrarch. First contact with Sangheili as well, Sangheili warrior culture made them respect the humans and Forerunners as a military force. They initially conducted joint military practices but soon they even made exchange programs scientifically and militarily, creating an impressive and tight triple alliance.

In 2090 realspace, both the Forerunners and Sangheili created the 'Promethean' and 'Ghost' programs respectively as their supersoldier programs. Joint scientific efforts also created the Ultimate AI revolutionary technology, allowing the AIs of all three empires as a whole to self evolve, allowing them real life like any organic has: change. These efforts also created numerous other technologies such as Quantum Shielding, Hardlight Barriers and even a Power Generator with 2 miniaturised stars in a repeated supernova stage to create 2 foes of energy, which is enough to provide sufficient power for an entire planet for practically 100 years without repeating the process again.

In 2100 realspace, The Imperium expanded to more than 150 million worlds, the Forerunners 90 million worlds and the Sangheili 92 million worlds, making them the largest empire ever to exist. First contact with Eldar also occurred, the Eldar agreed to join the three species as military, economic and scientific allies, their domain of 60 million worlds further expanding the already massive joint-species coalition.

2101-2169: Age of Peace, The Emperor made a proposal as to create a coalition that would would spritually unify them into a single political entity and as a result, the Coalition of Unified Species is formed. The Imperium also continuously expanded outwards, creating an empire with over 500 million worlds. The other powers followed suit and the Forerunners now have more than 300 million worlds, the Sangheili 305 million worlds and the Eldar more than 200 million worlds.

During the peaceful reign, the 4 military powers developed Hardlight Armour, enhanced Vibranium, Slipspace Deflector Shields and even massive particle cannons. While the Imperium still made use of projectile weapons like the Magnetic Accelerator Cannon for both fleets and ground forces, they are so effective that the newer technologies like Plasma lances, particle beams and hardlight cannons are as effective as them despite being considerably more primitive.

During this time period, the 4 species improved upon slipspace engine that allows for more than 10,000 light years per second and lauched numerous colonisation efforts on the Andromeda Galaxy, Triangulum Galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud and Small Magellanic Cloud. The Imperium colonised a total of 300 million worlds, the Forerunners 120 million worlds, the Sangheili 122 million worlds and the Eldar 80 million worlds.

Numerous gigastructures in the form of system wide shield worlds, ring-worlds, dyson spheres, hyper-forges and even giga-shipyards are built in each star system to maximise the Coalition's population capacity, industrial input and output. Every gas giant encountered also has their atmosphere stabilised by artificial means to allow for mass colonisation, creating more than 1 billion new worlds for Coalition colonisation (which they did).

Population check of total population of all 4 species numbers in the mid-hundreds of septillions, with the number increasing to the high hundreds in the next few millennia.

2170: *CONTENT TO BE ADDED*

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"This is the end of the brief history script, goodbye and looking forward to seeing you again!" The datapad's mic said.

*MARK: -24:00 HOURS*

With that, the datapad closed. Captain Albionus sighed; the datapad still hasn't been updated with information regarding the discovery of this unidentified object. looking at the 'tuning fork' in front of him, it was slightly smaller than the size of a Forerunner Trinity class Heavy Cruiser by approximately 2 kilometres . But compared to his 30 kilometre large and 2 quadrilliom metric ton heavy Manticore Class Super-Heavy Cruiser, the 15 kilometre object was nothing. He looked at the data the scanners showed and raised an eyebrow in interest.

The object in question was more than 1 billion years old. And it contained a large amount of an unknown element that the Imperium has never seen, let alone the rest of the Coalition. "Interesting," The Captain mused. Just then one of the command crew, a regular human, reported: "Sir scans show that the object is some form of faster than light travelling device that is linked with other forks to form a network of planets. I would have more if you allow Xerxes to hack into it's records."

"Permission granted," Albionus said. Then the metallic humanoid next to Abionus saluted, "with pleasure milord." Then the AI froze as if it was in a stasis field. The Captain saw it happening and decided to wait it out.

*MARK: -2:00 HOURS*

Albionus waited, waited and waited when finally Xerxes' body became active again, "Sir, you won't believe what I found inside, it is a gold mine!" Albionus face-palmed, "Explain," he ordered.

"This structure is dubbed as the Mass Relay, it allows for instant travel between systems that have these, and with them. It forms a network like our scannerman said earlier," He said, earning a chuckle from the crew and a grumble from the crewman he was referring to before continuing.

"The Relay's element is called Element Zero, which reduces an object's mass to negative zero, propels the object that interacts with the unit into FTL. Which by the way, it's a by-product of our Nova Generators as this Element can only be made when a star is in supernova stage. Also, the transition between relays can only jump into the system with the paired relay. Making it somewhat like a interstellar choke point." The AI finished his explanation.

"When can you activate it?" Albionus asked the AI.

"Around 2 hours from now, why ask?" The AI asked, clearly perplexed by the Captain's question.

"Theoretical: This object is made by unknown faction a billion years ago, though it is unlikely that they are still alive, securing the other side would further secure colony from external threats.

Practical: Go through this 'Relay' and secure the star system of that end." The AI nodded.

"Very well, shall I call for additional ships as well?"

"Do it." Albionus replied despite being very confident that the 300 ship strong fleet defending Shanxi is more than sufficient to fight off any and all threats to the colony, he still wasn't going to take risks. "Overconfidence is the fall of the mighty" He whispered, referring to Guan Yu of Ancient China and Marcus Licinius Crassus of Ancient Rome. As he was wondering if his choice was correct, Xerxes cut his thoughts.

"Done, Captain Remus and Captain Tarius of the Ultramarines 174th Heavy Battlegroup and 15th Carrier Battlegroup respectively are en-route. ETA is 120 minutes as they have just finished patrolling the Armageddon Sector for any signs of anomalies. Remus' battlegroup has 1 Crusader Class Super Heavy Cruiser, 10 Decimation Class Heavy Cruiser, 30 Firestorm Class Heavy Frigates and 20 Viper Class Heavy Destroyer. Tarius' has 1 Athena Class Supercarrier, 4 Thunderchild Class Heavy Carriers and 20 Strident Class Heavy Frigates. They also have a fleet of 200 droneships with them."

"Good, I'll be at my armoury, alert me when the Relay is opened." with that, he stood up and left the bridge, not waiting for the AI's reply.

*MARK: 00:00 HOURS*

"Captain, the Relay is ready to activate on your word." The AI said in the Captain's neural lace. The Captain was polishing his Master-crafted Heavy Bolt pistol and hardlight broadsword at that time.

"Very well, I'll be there in 5." He replied, and then holstered his pistol and made his way to the bridge. As he walked, he couldn't help but feel rather unpleasant by his own decision to go through the Relay but quickly shoved it aside, 'I'm an Astartes, I have a duty to ensure the colony and by extension, the Imperium's safety.' He thought to himself. But he soon cleared that from his mind as he stepped into the Bridge.

"I take it that you're done?" He asked the AI.

"Yes, also Captain Remus and Captain Tarius' fleets have arrived, they are hailing us."

"Accept hail" Soon the Hardlight projector flickered into life and the hulking figures of 2 Ultramarines Captains materialised. They both wore the 'Lorem Terrae' badge, the Elite of Terra. "Hail Captains! I did not expect the Elites of the Prime Chapter to come here!"

The 2 Captains gave a chest salute, "Captain Albionus! It is an honour to serve with a son of Athenus! Your feat against the pirate invasion fleet on Terra Nova is well known across the Legion." The Athenian nodded, "The honour is all mine." He replied gratefully before Tarius spoke up.

"Now let us get on with business, shall we?"

"Yes, please do so" Remus added. And Albionus nodded

Albionus repeated the information regarding the Mass Relay to the captains. Afterwards, Remus sighed, "This is troubling news indeed brother, a race that existed that early is a grave threat to our dominion if they are not friendly." He turned towards Albionus.

"What is your theoretical and practical?"

Albionus repeated his intentions and reasons for it. After that the 2 captains nodded, "A sound explanation, Captain" Tarius praised the Athenian. The Captain merely nodded before looking at his tactical display.

"Remus and my fleets will go through that thing first, afterwards Tarius will follow suite after we're through. That way, our main fleets will secure the system from any and all unknowns while our support fleets will stay behind us to deploy their fighter complements." He looked at the captains.

"If there aren't any problems now, we'll start the operation immediately." With that, he disconnected with the captains and ordered his fleet through, the others following suite.

The hulking warships of the Imperial Fleet began coming to life, their dark matter and graviton engines propelling them to speeds physically impossible for their massive size, they interacted with the Relay and moments later, they vanished into the cold unfamiliar void with a blue glowing trail following them, dissipating in seconds, leaving the void back to its original form: cold, black and unforgiving.

* * *

WIKIPEDIA

COALITION OF UNIFIED SPECIES

SHORT VERSION

The Coalition of Unified Species, or CUS for short, is the unified political body of the Imperium of Man, Forerunner Ecumene, Sangheili Empire and Eldar Empire. Their leaders always meet on the Greater Ark but otherwise stay on their capital worlds. The military command structure demands that any the lower ranking units from other species must comply with orders of another species' soldier whose rank is higher. Their military command is called USECOMM (Unified Species Command) and are responsible for their military deployment. The USECOMM is mainly divided into these subcommands: MILKCOMM (Milky Way Command), ANCOMM (Andromeda Command), TRICOMM (Triangulum Command), LAMCOMM (Large Magellanic Command) and SAMCOMM (Small Magellanic Command). The subcommands are further divided into mega-sectors by affiliation, meaning Human territory will remain in human hands, the others the same as well. These mega-sectors will then become sectors, subsectors and finally systems. Each system is protected by a formidable fleet of 300 ships to hold until reinforcements arrive, which are usually in the hundreds of millions.

Civilian citizenship are determined by the territory they are born in, while application for another citizenship usually requires light investment in business or contribution in scientific development for the nation of choice. As a result of this policy and the People's desire to invent, led to a massive scientific and business community of various fields. All citizens, no matter their origins, must abide by the law of the state. If they break the law, they are punished according to the law of the place they broke. Every citizen are also unconsciously uploaded with combat flash training to allow for a sub-standard, but by no means, weak performance in battle.

Private Military Contractors are welcome in the CUS, they are highly sought after since mobilisation cost are rather high and PMCs are known to have army veterans fighting in unorthodox ways, which attracts military units to study such tactics and possibly employ them. Despite the supposed "highest bidder is the master" motto usually seen in past PMCs, CUS originated PMCs are first and foremost loyal to their entity of origin, meaning the PMCs are in reality, an extension of the CUS' will in private corperations.

CUS governments heavily encourage citizens to create businesses by sponsoring 90 percent of the business (while allowing the business to remain in private possession) and provide advisers to help the business flourish. Some genres of companies, specifically those of the military-focused industries and technological development industries, are always 95 percent sponsored by government funding, as well as having a permanent 60 percent control of the company and under guard by OMI agents to protect their technology from any sinister parties.

CUS economies rely on shipbuilding industry, services agencies, technological development, firearms production, vehicle production and architectural construction to maintain, expand and strengthen them. As replicator technology has already removed the 'scarcity-unlimited wants' factor in raw materials, as such their main efforts are focused on tertiary production (servicing final products) as the replicators primary production (harvest in raw materials) and bypasses secondary production (processing raw materials to semi-finished or complete products) on a number of fields but not all of them, with shipbuilding being an example.

* * *

Special thanks for Cosmicsafe74 and Darkdragondude1234 for beta-ing the story!

Please Review after this, I'll do my best to respond!

Now this story will be the first of the trilogy I plan to make, starts with this one: First Contact War and Skyllian Blitz, then Collector threats and finally Reapers.


	2. First Contact

**Hi there, welcome to the second chapter of Human Domination: Anvils of War! I'm only here to respond some reviews as writing too much here is a dick move to increase word count, so lets begin!**

 _ **Artyom-Dreizehn**_ **: In this version of the story, Mass Relays are slower than Slipspace and more inefficient as a FTL technology, but I buffed the Mass Relays so they can travel to another system in seconds. While technically slipspace can reach a place in nanoseconds, the difference is so close that a human eye would not be able to find any difference in travelling time.**

 **So yes, it is kinda backwards for the Imperium to use that piece of crap.**

 _ **Last Admiral**_ **: Sadly I won't be adding SA into this story, because it will be very confusing for me to read and write.**

 _ **Thorison1080**_ **: I can think of 4 words to 'morealso' but other than that I have no clue as to what you're saying, and regarding the OP part, I don't care ;-).**

 _ **Guest**_ **: I noticed the problems after reading my history book, but I won't care much about it, its only useless background information.**

 _ **Madlor23**_ **: You are very correct in regards to the overpopulation, but in this story there will be no Chaos as I, for one, really feel annoyed by all those supernatural rapist, berserkers, wizards and bacterial retards.**

 **XXX**

 **Alright, with these done you may enjoy reading this chapter.**

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Chapter 1: First Contact

*MARK: 00:02*

In the vast, cold and black void, anchored a Mass Relay, its energy core inert and therefore making it inactive. Or at least it was, until now. The energy core shimmered into life, the rings containing it began to spin uncontrollably as if they were being pushed to their very limit, blue energy then started to glow inside the rings as their spinning continues to accelerate. A moment later, almost 400 massive ships shot out from the relay and drifted lazily, their crews powerless to do anything but watch.

Aboard each manned vessel, the crew worked frantically to stabilise their vessel. But none of them were as busy as the Vigilance, Albionus' command ship and fleet flagship as they were not only trying to stabilise their vessel, but also coordinating with the fleet and analysing the incident that transpired. In the Vigilance's command deck stood a frustrated Abionus who looked around at the mess, he needed to control the situation, and he needed to control it now.

Stepping forward, he barked, "Report, sailors!"

One of the crewmen, the communications officer, stood up and turned to the Captain, "Sir, fleet wide comm chatter indicates that all engines have been instantly overloaded and are being forcefully rebooted by that jump. Whatever we went through, it caused a reaction so powerful that it rendered all propulsion inert." The crewman finished.

Albionus shook his head, "No assumptions officer, we'll have plenty of time to study the reason after we get our engines back online and haul ass. In the meantime, have our fleets retain loose phalanx formation with their manoeuvring thrusters and scan the system for any anomalies, I'd hate to have nasty surprises when we're immobile. Also, I want all shipmasters and fleet commanders to their private quarters, please. Tell them it is an emergency meeting and Xerxes, you have the conn until further notice" With that concluded, he turned to leave the command deck.

"Yes sir!" The crew responded in unison as he left, then sprang into action to carry out their orders.

The captain walked into his personal quarters. It was very spacious, around 100 meters by 40 meters by 5 meters, other than his personal armoury, which had already claimed a fifth of his quarters, there were only simple furniture for dining, entertainment and a massive open area with a hardlight projector on the ceiling. Stepping into the open area, he mentally activated the projector, and the figures of no more than 400 humans and Astartes materialised around him while the entire room began to turn pit black, likely to make the hardlight figures more obvious.

The group saluted, "Captain!" They greeted.

"I assume you all know our situation?" They nodded, with grim looks on those without helmets.

"Good, so we're going home once we're all mobile, I won't risk meeting whoever built this thing, chart this place and scan the system to have it recorded into the Absolute Record. Once that is completed, we'll return to Shanxi via slipspace and leave 100 drone ships here on guard, Any questions?" He said, one of the Astartes centurions commanding a ship of his fleet, a Blood Angel, raised his hands for permission.

"What is it, Centurion Jonas?"

"Isn't leaving 100 drone ships a bit too much? We only have no more than 300 of them and they are quite useful assets."

"The drone ships will guard this system until a reinforcement fleet arrives, they maybe useful but they are expendable. Besides, we need to have a early warning system in case somebody wants to pay a visit."

"But if the enemy manages to defeat the drones, they maybe able to reverse engineer our technology. It's too risky to leave them out there." another Centurion pointed out, more people in the group began saying their thoughts. Abionus ignored them and finished his final part.

"Which is why we'll arm them with singularity bombs," The group instantly went silent.

"The bombs will destroy every piece of our technology if our drones are destroyed, that way they'll get nothing while losing some more." He said, suppressing his smug tone from surfacing. The gathered officers nodded to the logic in the Captain's words but still Jonas still hadmha given up.

"Sir, with all due respect, allow my ship to stay in order to ensure that the drone ships are thoroughly destroyed in thenevent that they are defeated. I can escape via Slipspace later or self-destruct with my ship's twin nova Reactors if necessary.

The Athenian stared at the young centurion, though he knew that the stupid blood angel was just young and being bloodthirsty, he couldn't deny his logic that insurance is needed if the fleet was defeated.

The Ultramarine Captain nodded at the Blood Angel Centurion, "Very well, I leave this duty to you. But I have to remind you that if you do anything unnecessary that caused the loss of any assets or lives under your command, I will personally hunt you down, murder you and parade your mutilated corpse across the streets of your homeworld as punishment. Do you understand Centurion?"

The Centurion gulped nervously, and saluted, his eyes full of thanks for the Captain and probably fear. 'Wow, intimidation actually works, that should cull some of his eagerness and make him use more logic' Albionus thought astonishingly. He then spoke out loud to address the remaining officers, "Any ship's engines are still inoperable?" No one answered.

"Good, we move out in 20 minutes, dismissed." The officers made a final salute and disconnected. As the officers' hardlight form dissolved, the pit black room slowly returned to its originally simple colours. He then informed Xerxes regarding the plan and casually walked to his personal liquor room, taking a bottle of 200 year old vodka and a simple titanium cup, he filled it to 80 percent of the cup's capacity and sipped the vodka, "Ah, Russian liquor is the best!" He exclaimed relaxedly, before drinking the entire cup and refilling it again.

*END MARK: 00:08*

* * *

*MARK: 00:10*

"Get us out of here!" A Batarian shouted desperately

"We can't! Engines are hit, FTL systems are inoperable,.we are de~" One of the Batarians at the consoles shouted in reply but was cut off by an explosion from the console, sending shrapnel to the man's 4 eyed face and killing him.

"Watch out!" Someone suddenly yelled.

The bridge exploded, jettisoning the pirate crew to suffocate the survivors in the airless void while the dead floated uncontrollably, the pirate vessel they were on shook violently as thousands of Mass Accelerator shots and torpedoes tore through her weakened kinetic barriers and impacted the thin armour. Within nanoseconds, the hull gave up resisting the sheer kinetic force projected against her and shattered into thousands of fragments of varying sizes, joining the rest of her companions in the newly formed pirate scrapyard.

Aboard his superdreadnought flagship, the Unflinching Resolve Desolas Arterius looked at the flaming wrecks that he recently made with his fleet, "Nothing but weak outlaws who deserve this fate," he said smugly. This would serve as an example to any outlaws who dare to attack Citadel territories, specifically those funded by the Batarians. Satisfied, he asked for a fleet-wide report. Amongst the 5000 ships he had for the attack, less than 100 were either damaged or destroyed, a testament to his skills as a professional Turian naval commander as he was fighting against a pirate fleet 3 times his fleets' size.

"You know, arrogance is the reason why even the best are not infallible," someone behind him said. Turning around, he was not surprised to see his younger brother and his fleet executive officer Saren Arterius. Desolas shook his head, "These are stupid scoundrels Saren, they aren't worth the careful planning and studying our military is renowned for." he stated dismissively.

"Any enemy is worth studying, especially these pirates brother. Each pirate commander are of different backgrounds, they fight differently and therefore have different doctrines. As the dominant military power of the Galaxy, it is our duty to study every tactic possible to fight future enemies." he replied, much to Desolas' frustration, who merely nodded and didn't reply. Instead, he turned to his bridge crew and addressed them.

"Sailors," He started with his voice of authority, "Today we've made history. Let the current and future generations judge our heroic actions against those who broke the law, for WE Turians are the law! For Palaven, and for the Hierarchy!" The Turians present cheered, but Desolas wasn't finished. "On a side note, I am proud to have you soldiers under my command." The cheer went even louder as the usually stern and harsh Admiral Desolas Arterius personally praised them. That cheer soon ended as the crew recomposed their discipline and returned to their respective duties.

"Helm, navigate our way back to Palaven Shipyards, we're going to have our ships repaired and get some R&R. Comms, send word to the fleet to do the same. Saren you have the conn, inform me when we reach Trebia's system edge, I'll be at my quarters." As Desolas turned to leave the bridge, one of the bridge crew suddenly snapped from his seat and rushed to the admiral, only to be stopped by Saren.

"What's the matter soldier?" Saren demanded, gaining the attention of the leaving admiral, who turned back to the crewman.

"Sir, Relay 314 has been activated approximately 5 minutes ago. We've just received the signal." Saren then turned to his brother.

"Could it be a new species?"

"Doesn't matter, they broke the law, and ignorance to the law is no excuse regardless if they're new. Helm, plot a course to the 314 system. Comms, tell the fleet to do the same. All hands to battlestations, we move out now!" With that, the crew sprang into action, determined to do their duty and make the Hierarchy proud. Little did they know that their dedication to their duty would be their downfall and that it would change the face of the galaxy for centuries to come.

The large fleet of Turian warships regrouped their formation around the Unflinching Resolve, and activated their thrusters, propelling them to sublight speeds to the Relay.

*END MARK: 00:13*

* * *

*MARK: 00:18*

Albionus finished his entire bottle of vodka, he took a mental note to buy a few more of them when they return to New Moscow, as he was about to get some sleep his personal vox channel beeped, accepting it, he was surprised to hear Xerxes' voice, "Sir! We got a situation, please get your ass to the bridge at once." And then he disconnected almost immediately.

Albionus grunted annoyingly, then grabbed his weapons and rushed to the bridge in breathtaking speeds, as he entered, Xerxes turned to him, "Sir, we got contacts ranging from Heavy gunships to escort tonnages numbering in the forty-nine hundreds. Based on passive scanners we can safely assume that these fellows here aren't the ones who built the relays but only reversed engineered the technology in it, making very crude copies. Also they aren't responding to our hails, so they're either haven't received it yet or outright ignored it." Albionus was about to give the order to yellow alert when one of his crew shouted.

"Sir, energy spikes from the new contacts, they're opening fire!"

"Shields up, red alert!" He instantly ordered.

The Quantum barriers was activated just in time as hundreds of rounds and torpedoes slammed at the Vigilance' protective barrier, who deflected the meteorite-like strikes as if it was nothing but dust to her. When the volley ended, the Athenian asked for a status report and was shocked to see that his ship was unscathed by those strikes, and was even more shocked to see that the rest of his fleet were unscathed too.

"Commence the coordination of our return fire sequence; arm the MAC guns and Tachyon lances, time to show them what a big gun really means! Also launch all fighters, the skyboys want to fly." He growled, the crew sprang into action, and soon his weapons officer said, "MAC guns are loaded and ready, as are the Tachyon lances!" He nodded to the weapons officer and looked at the tactical display, he then gave the word, "Commence attack," and all hells were set loose as minuscule ships were deployed from the Imperial ships in the millions.

* * *

*MARK: 00:18*

"Spirits," Saren could only say, the monstrosity that is at the display screen for the bridge was 2 times the size of a mass relay. It was angular and possessed many visible weapons platform across the ship, 'it is certainly built for war' Desolas thought grimly. What even made this new species more unique is that their ships have no element zero being used at all they could detect it inside each ship but were not being consumed! Meaning they are primitive and don't know how to use it despite the size of the ship.

"They are just a bunch of primitives who don't know how to use eezo, all ships prepare to fire, get targeting solutions for these ships and fire on my command!" He ordered, the preparations were quick as they were already at battlestations before they entered the system. Saren nodded at his brother as the targeting solutions and weapons volley were ready, Desolas took a deep breathe, "Open fire."

Volley after volley of Mass Accelerator rounds launched from the Turian vessels like a dart and a second later, the rounds hit, followed by their torpedoes. But to the shock of every Turian in the bridge, the alien ships were unscathed and as far as visual cameras show, the paint wasn't even scratched. "Cannon fire is ineffective!"

"Torpedoes are ineffective!"

"Quantum energy detected!"

"Unknown energy detected as well sir!"

The series of panicked reports from his bridge crew snapped the shocked admiral back into reality, and he quickly took over, "All ships launch fighters, have battlegroup 2 through 10 begin tactical jump over enemy flanks, their size would mean they won't have time to readjust their heading to engage. Also I want concentrated volleys on the enemy flagship, it shouldn't~" Desolas didn't finish as one of his bridge crewman cut his line of thoughts.

"Energy spike detected! Hostile forces are returning fire!" As soon as he said it, hundreds of energy beams and solid projectiles slammed into the Turian fleet, one of the rounds hit the Unflinching Resolve's 'wings' and literally snapped it, allowing the broken piece to drift in space for eternity. Then one of the beams hit his other wing, atomizing it and shaking the Resolve's hull violently. Desolas then tumbled and hit the wall next to him, and darkness overcame him.

Saren saw this and immediately took command, "All ships, this is vice admiral Saren Arterius, admiral Arterius has been incapacitated by hostile return fire, as a result the chain of command now falls to me. Continue as originally planned. Spirits guide us, Arterius out." He then ordered one of the guards on the bridge to call for a medical team and asked for the ship's status.

"Sir, I suggest that we abandon ship."

"And why is that, lieutenant?"

"Both of our ship's wings are destroyed, that reduced our mobility by more than 50 percent as 4 out of 8 of our engines were stationed there, without mobility I'm sure as Trebia's star that we'll be dead if we stay here because our kinetic barriers are nothing to those ships" Saren grimaced, he knew that the lieutenant was right, their kinetic barriers did nothing to stop the shot while the energy beam outright bypassed it. Their only hope was to use the ship's relatively quick speed to evade the fire but now that 50 percent mobility is lost, they're as good as dead if they stay, and he knew that the lieutenant was only giving him the appetizers as he knew from his console that multiple ship systems have failed already, and life-support was beginning to fail as well.

He sighed with resignation, "Abandon ship, transfer command to heavy dreadnought Palaven's Glory. Get to the shuttles, lifeboats would probably become target practice for the enemy ships." He then typed a few commands to the shipboard VI to announce the flagship's evacuation, before running alongside his surviving crew and his unconscious brother to safety.

* * *

*MARK: 00:25*

To say that Commander Jackson was pissed was a severe understatement; he was on fire when they were attacked by a new species just seconds after making contact. Now he is on board the Vigilance, preparing to launch in his F-450 Halberd Multi-role strike fighter to intercept the enemy fighters. To his left, he could see the rest of his squadron readying for the battle. Just as he was looking at Reaper-10, whom he had a slight crush on, his vox beeped.

"Reaper Squadron, you are cleared for launch, kick ass out there!"

He quickly recomposing himself, and replied "Roger that, control. Commander Jackson Lee, Halberd MSF, launches!" His craft then boosted to 75 percent the speed of light and in an instant; he was out from the tight space of the Vigilance's hangar bays to the spacious void. "25th Flight Platoon, report in." He ordered.

"Eagle Squadron, reporting."

"Vulture Squadron locked and loaded!"

"Dagger Squadron reporting,"

"Dragon Squadron, ready for battle!"

Grinning, Jackson issued his orders to them and proceeded to lead his squadron into the upcoming fray. They were the first to open fire with their powerful particle cannons as dozens of Turian fighters moved to engage. A dogfight began almost immediately as the 2 species' single ships begin tailing one another at close range. Jackson found himself in luck as he got behind a full squadron of Turian fighters.

"Fox 1," He said, and an archer missile pod carrying 12 missiles immediately fired, the 12 missiles then initiated their ignition's second phase and divided into 3 more missiles each, the Turians stood no chance as 3 dozen high-yield missiles slammed into them, their explosive power vaporising entire crafts and the pilot in them. As he was mentally celebrating the dozen or so kills, he was hit by a trio of Turian fighters, which were then destroyed by Reaper-10's particle cannons.

Signalling his thanks, he checked his craft's status and was pleased to see that its plasma shields held admirably against the tiny but quick projectiles. He then continued to engage the enemy fighters, destroying another one with his particle cannon when someone shouted at the vox. "This is Reaper-12, I got bandits on my tail, and there is a lot of them!" the pilot shouted desperately.

Looking at his motion trackers, he found his flight mate's location and true to the pilot's word, there was at least 50 Turian fighters tailing him, "Reaper Lead here, I can see you! Boy oh boy, looks like you kicked the hornet's nest, 12!" He said jokingly. He could hear the pilot muttering something before replying, "Any help right now is much appreciated Reaper Lead!" Shaking his head in amusement, he replied, "Don't fuss about it 12, I got them on my scope."

Reaper-12 wisely lead the pursuing group to a nearby enemy corvette analogue, "Fox 1!" He said, and 72 archer missiles were unleashed from the Halberd, the Turians tried to evade but their formation prevented most of them from doing that, vaporising them with the continuous explosions of antimatter payload of the missiles while the corvette was outright torn in half by the each missile's 20 megaton TNT yield. Grinning in satisfaction, he turned his fighter from Reaper-12 and back to the slaughter that the Imperium's pilots were enjoying.

* * *

Saren could only gasp in appal as his fleet was being torn to shreds, his fighter wings only destroying a few fighters while suffering more than 96 percent casualties; His fleet had 320 Dreadnought scale vessels, less than 40 remained. He grimaced, he lost this battle, he didn't want to admit it but he had to, he lost. Turning from the display to the bridge crew, he gave the order "Helm, turn us about, the Hierarchy needs to know about this new threat. Comms, order the fleet to do the same, we have to face the facts, we lost this time." both helmsman and communications officer looked at their commander, then at each other. They nodded and complied.

Before the severely battered Turian fleet turned from the absolute carnage and jumped to the FTL to return to the Relay, Saren took one last look at the 400 ship strong alien fleet, "We will return, and we will show them the might of the Turian Hierarchy." He growled vengefully and left the bridge, intending on checking on his injured brother. As he walked by, numerous crew members expressed their doubts and fears to one another, for the first time since the spirits-cursed Krogan Rebellions, the Turians are defeated and their might questioned by their own soldiers.

* * *

WIKIPEDIA

Quantum Barrier

Quantum Barriers worked based on a hypothesis first put forward by Japanese physicist Masahiro Hotta of the renowned Tohoku University, who suggested that by exploiting quantum energy fluctuations of an entangled vacuum state of a quantum field, energy can be teleported. The hypothesis proposes that energy may be injected into a zero-point fluctuation of the field at one place, and extracted from a fluctuation at another place.

The barrier works by creating a field of a specific volume of space, around a ship. The Barrier will protect the ship by teleporting the energy to prevent the energy involved from hitting the vessel. R&D originally wanted to have the barrier teleport the delivered energy to various power sources in the Imperium to increase energy production output, but soon that changed when the Imperium found out that even for interstellar distance energy transfer, the amount of teleported energy is non-zero, but negligibly small. As a resort, the Imperium used short distance teleportation to increase the amount of energy of a ship These energy will then be converted to heat energy and transferred to the ship's various power systems for additional power generation.

Although it is not yet tested, it is hypothesised that as long as the projected firepower does not reach over 15 teratons worth of TNT at once, the Quantum Barrier would be able to protect the vessel from any harm and would not fail. If it does reach above the limit, then the remainder of the energy (Projected firepower subtracted by Energy Teleportation limit equals to Remainder) will proceed to damage the ship armour or engage the next protective measure.

This piece of technology must be controlled by an AI in order to be used to its maximum potential as it is very hard, but not impossible for organic beings to calculate the complicated calculations needed for it to run.

* * *

WIKIPEDIA

Artificial Intelligence

Sapiens Creata, or more widely known as Artificial Intelligence are the collective species of synthetic constructs created by the various species of the C.U.S. As a result, they come in many different forms. For example, Forerunner Artificial Intelligences are known to have an orb-like physical form commonly joked as a light bulb while a Sangheili version are known to have a artificial body mimicking the movements of a Sangheili Warrior, granting them unparalleled combat abilities.

The most versatile and fascinating of this species however, are humans as they're cheaply made, can 'reproduce', have different emotions and can connect to either a physical body or digital form. Where Forerunners and Sangheili AIs have a unparalleled sense of duty and thirst for combat respectively, human AIs love doing whatever they want and are very different from one another. They all run on Quantum Computers, allowing them extreely quick processing speeds.

The most sophisticated of them however, are certainly Eldar AIs. Unlike the other AIs, who uses the technology granted to them to their advantage, Eldar AIs make use of psychic energy to run. As Eldar society runs on psychic energies, the Eldar literally made cloned Eldar brains whose original template had massive psychic powers. The brains are then installed to a device and with certain adjustments. An Eldar AI will be born.

This allowed them to access organic and synthetic based devices that would make other AIs scratch their heads in frustration but would decrease their overall efficiency in doing so as the brain cannot handle the complicated calculations needed for a quantum computer, using the brain to it fullest instead as an organic supercomputer.

* * *

WIKIPEDIA

F-450 Halberd Multi-role Strike Fighter

The main fighter craft in the Imperium, the Halberd is a cheap, versatile and powerful vulture of the void. It is armed with 8 archer missile pods carrying 12 missiles each, each of which would then divide into 3 missiles, giving the pilot more than a hundred missiles for use.

In addition to that, the Halberd is also equipped with 4 rapid fire particle cannons and 2 high-powered Plasma beams. The particle cannons for destroying enemy strike craft, the Plasma Beams for hitting larger enemy vessels.

Halberds' combat load-out can be switched according to the needs of the mission. For example: If there is a need for a bombing run, the Archer Missiles can be reequipped with Neutron Torpedoes to increase damage output per shot at the cost of less capacity.

Currently, more than 3 quadrillion Halberds have been produced for usage in the Imperial fleet and a few hundred million for PMCs.

* * *

 **I scrapped this Chapter 3 freaking times, it made me so tired that I might have died from over exhaustion.**

 **Ranting aside, please review this chapter like you've done previously, thanks for reading! Kevin out.**


	3. Aftermath and Preparations

**Before we start, I'd like to tell this to some of the reviewers, let the nonsense go for once, I just want a dream come true.**

 **Now you may enjoy this rather shitty chapter**

* * *

The Battle had finally ended at the cost of only 3 drone ships; it was certainly the biggest win in Imperial history. There were still thousands of survivors across the newly formed void scrapyard, stragglers who got left behind by the fleeing alien fleet, so it was Albionus' duty to either kill or capture these aliens. One of the stronger survivors, was a severely crippled frigate analogue, if scans were correct, there were at least 500 life signs aboard. The Athenian sighed, and went to the shipboard armoury, where a fireteam of 4 Ultramarines prepared their equipment. When they saw their commanding officer approaching, they made a crisp chest salute, "Captain," they greeted.

"Brothers," he greeted back in a friendly tone, then back to his usual serious tone, "This is the layout we got from preliminary scans of this frigate, there are approximately 500 life signs situated around the ship with relatively high concentrations of the xenos at the Engine Room, Combat Information Centre and what we assume to be the Armoury. We'll first teleport to the C.I.C, kill off all hostiles and proceed to clear the engine room. Once that's done, 2 more fireteams will scour the ship other parts while we move towards the Armoury." He double-checked his datapad.

"If the technology they utilised during the void battle is of any indication, small arms fire should be of no concern, but that doesn't not mean that we are to be arrogant, they may not have proven themselves to be resourceful, but if they do, I don't want anyone here die because of our arrogance and ego, clear?"

"We hear you crystal clear, sir." They replied in unison.

"Good, now Maxim and Draxis will get a Bolt Carbine, Marius will get a Bolt Auto Rifle and some Melta Charges. And Nathan will get a Blast Shield and a Bolt Pistol. I will use my own weapons, but rest assured they will be mostly the same as yours," Albionus said while gesturing to his Master-Enhanced Supremacy Pattern Bolter. The one called Maxim raised his cobalt-blue gauntlets.

"Sir, why don't we get to use our other CQC weaponry like our melta guns?"

"Do you think it's even necessary? Besides, I don't want the enemy to know what we're truly capable of." The Captain replied, then went out of the armoury to the teleportation chamber. "And there goes the arrogance part," he could hear Maxim mutter but decided not to chatisice him and continued to his intended destination. The 4 Marines followed suit and a few minutes later, they were at the teleportation chamber. "Welcome brothers," the speaker above boomed, "I assume that you all remember how it feels to be ripped apart and reassembled again?" He asked jokingly.

"Cut the shit Dave or I'll enjoy bruising you when I get back," Nathan growled irritably.

"Ouch! That's not nice Brother Nathan," The speaker retorted innocent, "Anyway, we've already calibrated the coordinates for teleportation, and we'll start as soon as you give the word."

"If anything happens during the teleportation, I'll be sure to haunt your ass at all times," Nathan growled again.

"Then I'm certain that you will never get that chance." The speaker retorted smugly, Albionus sighed at the conversation between the two retarded Astartes, then gave the word for the teleportation to commence and a white sharp pain overcome the boarding team as if they were being shredded apart at the molecular level, an instant later, they materialised at the Turian ship's C.I.C, the pain subsiding.

"For Earth and her colonies!" The team shouted in unison and then began the bloodshed. Maxim, Draxis and Marius began gunning down the Turian crew mercilessly while Albionus and Nathan dashed towards the stunned Turians, butchering them up close in a elegant manner. Exactly 20 seconds later, the 75 Turians in the C.I.C. were dead and the Ultramarines began paving their bloody path to the Engine Room.

* * *

"C.I.C. I need a status update!" Chief Engineer Victus requested, they were supposed to wait for the periodic status update the captain promised, but the last one was already 4 minutes late and still not even a single word came out. "Sir, short range comms report that enemy boarders are slaughtering our crew!" One of the guards reported. Victus shook his head in disbelief, they were being boarded by a bunch of new contacts, and not only are they winning, they also aren't slowing down.

"Everyone with a gun form a defensive perimeter around the entrance, if these boarders are here then we can safely assume that the captain and the rest of C.I.C. are dead, so that means we can't access the eezo core as we need the clearance code from the captain himself to do so." He then took out his own pistol and loaded a thermal clip, "It's been an honor soldiers, we made our families proud." He said with resignation.

The surrounding Turians nodded grimly, and proceeded to the Engine Room's entrance, intending to fulfil their duty one last time. A moment later, Victus himself joined the defense, knowing that layered of defenses would be pointless.

As they prepared for their last stand, the Turians could hear screams of horror and bones cracking, as well as what they assumed as miniature explosion outside the room, which unnerved the soldiers, "Steady!" Victus tried to assure the crew, it did little to help.

Then all of a sudden, a large yellow beam melted the door entrance and flew straight towards Victus and 5 other Turians, Victus saw it and with a stroke of luck, managed to leap to the side the beam alongside another Turian, burning their carapace by a great degree. He turned, albeit painfully to check on the other 4 to see if they were alright, to his utter horror and rage they were not there, they were literally vaporised. Then at the entrance, 5 blue giant figures stepped into the Engine Room, and the Turians' worst nightmare had come true as one of them boomed a single word that they did not understand.

* * *

"Engage!" Bolter fire lit up the dull-colored room, with each shot spilling dark blue blood, Albionus holstered his bolter, and unsheathed his power sword, he activated the powerful blade, it's disruption field coming to life and in a lightning fast dash that would be blurry to the eye, he was amongst the hastily organized defenders. He swung his blade with ferocity only matched by the fury of his fireteam, each strike tearing apart Turian flesh by the molecular level, each strike delivering the unbound fury of the mighty Ultramarines, each strike instilling more fear into the hearts of his enemies.

As he decapitated another Turian, a grenade detonated behind him, sending him flying across the room, hitting him hard in the head and disorientating him. The surviving Turians immediately switched their targets to vulnerable Captain, hoping to kill him before the other Ultramarines claim their lives. Hundreds, if not thousands of grain-sized rounds were fired at impossibly high velocities, they pinged at Albionus' armour like soft fish roe impacting cold hard metal.

The Ultramarines saw it as an opportunity, and opened fire. Dozens of bolt rounds met their targets and redecorated the Engine room with strands of dark blue blood and purple ugly gore, when the firing finished, not a single Turian were alive or recognisable. Captain Albionus stood up from the pool of blood and corpses, his armour being repainted completely. The Astartes looked at him and chuckled, "Sir, you've become a bloody IIIrd Legionary!" Marius said jokingly.

Albionus gave his laughing battle brothers a deadly glare before contacting the Vigilance for reinforcements. Soon, 8 more Ultramarines materialised aboard the small vessel and saluted their Captain, "Fireteam One, get to the C.I.C, download all the information and secure the ship's crew quarters. Fireteam Two, secure the shuttle bays, there's a small, but nonetheless potential chance that they will escape from there." The Astartes gave their acknowledgements and moved out instantly, leaving behind the 5 battle-worn Ultramarines.

"Come on, we still got an armory to clear. Nathan will be up front; Marius will be our rear guard; the rest in the middle." The Ultramarines filed into one row, and began jogging towards their final objective.

5 minutes later, the armory was in their sights, so were a few automated turrets, which were easily dispatched by a burst of Bolt rounds each. Marius then installed a melta charge at the heavily reinforced armory entrance and detonated it. No matter how thick the blast door was, against the sun hot beam made by the melta charge, they were even worse than chaff.

The Blasted door literally vaporised, creating a hot glowing entrance for the giant marines to go through. At first the Turians looked at them in awe and fear, but then became one of desperation, desperation to survive, by a few words of encouragement from another Turian. 'Big mistake' Albion's thought, "Eliminate all hostiles," Albionus ordered, and the slaughter began immediately as bolt rounds flew from the Ultramarines' Bolter barrels tore through makeshift cover and Turian flesh effortlessly, killing the aliens by the dozens.

Albionus charged with his power sword and wrist-mounted plasma blade to commit to his final battle of the day, and was being met with 3 aliens with orange silicon-like blades, "Finally a challenge!" He said excitingly, and dodged the first few strikes from the Turians. Then through the sheer luck of the Turians, one of them was able to make a slash across the Captain's chest, piercing his plasma shields and creating a big molten scar across his customised power armour.

Albionus grimaced at the damage he sustained, 'Not good, their melee weapons can break our shields, implying that they must be very hot, or that there's a flaw in our design.' He always hated uncertainties, especially ones that could affect his, or anybody's life. He took a few steps back and sheathed his sword, then released the bolt pistol in his magnetic holster and sprayed a few rounds at the Turians, brutally killing them. He turned his attention to the remaining Turians and fought on.

Soon, the Turians, who fought to the last, were dealt with and the ship was finally secure. An Apothecary teleported along with another fireteam of Ultramarines and 3 Techmarines to secure and study the ship, the Apothecary gave Albionus a disapproving stare at Albionus before checking for any potential injuries, "Captain, I'm reading a rather large crack in the spine and rib cage, as well as a 3rd degree burn at that chest slash. Congratulations, your recklessness just earned you a 5-day stay in the fleet hospital bed." With that the Astartes medic practically dragged the unwilling Athenian away while the Ultramarines that were listening to the statement chuckled.

* * *

Desolas and Saren looked nervously at Primarch Fedorian and Councilor Sparatus, who were beyond enraged when news of a new species that not only repelled a Turian peacekeeping fleet, but also destroyed the majority of it without losing morer than a few ships. As the 2 brothers thought of their potential consequence for such a disgraceful action, Fedrorian's voice cut off those thoughts, "So a new species, whose numbers were less than a tenth the size of your peacekeeping fleet, not only destroyed the majority of your fleet, but also suffered the loss of less than 5 ships?"

"Yes sir, that's our conclusion after reviewing our combat data." Desolas replied.

"Then you should know that this is the worst defeat in all known galactic history, 1 million sailors and soldiers, lost in ONE spirits cursed battle." Sparatus snapped, "However, based on your reports, this species shows hyper-advanced technologies and doesn't make use of Eezo. Their tech trumps over the Asari by at least centuries, and if we don't have advanced technology for our military to use, we'd become weaker and eventually more Turian lives will be lost to uphold peace and order."

"So I'm officially authorizing the invasion of system 314. 200 Turian war fleets and 5 logistics fleets will join this offensive, you will lead them and you are to gain orbital superiority at any cost. Then the 100 Battle Legions, 5 Blackwatch Legions, 2 Cabal Legions and 2 Praetorian Legions will take that wretched planet and integrate them into a client race." Fedorian added.

"If they resist, then you bomb them. If they still resist, then execute civilians and soldiers to demoralize them. Do whatever it takes to conquer them; to hell with those Citadel laws, you will destroy them utterly if they don't surrender." Sparatus finished.

The brothers looked at each other in utter shock, they had been given command of a fifth of the Hierarchy's active naval strength, 5 percent of all active Hierarchy ground forces and even 2 of the Palaven's elite infantry units to subdue this new race. They then looked at their superiors, and saluted, "We will not disappoint you, sirs!" Then they turned to leave the war room, hopeful that a chance for redemption was granted to them. "You better don't, Arterius... For the sake of my son..." Fedorian muttered quietly, with Sparatus lowering his head in contemplation.

* * *

"This is grim news indeed, Captain," Guilliman mused at Albionus, with Rogal Dorn nodding his head in agreement in their hardlight holograms. "Our First contact with a new species and they fired on us without provocation, they even have an alliance with numerous other species. I believe we have been very naive to think that all beings across the galaxy are kind at heart." He said sadly. Albionus sighed sadly at the fact that they are, for the first time since the first contact accident with the Forerunners, returning into the depths of violence.

"... I agree lords, but I insist that I should take responsibility for this failure. If only I had..." Guilliman raised his hand to cut him off, "I've read every single report your subordinates wrote, Captain. You did your best to avoid violence, that I'm sure. But the fact remains that they will retaliate for our supposed 'aggression'. And our armies are currently in the process of full mobilization, it will be another week before we can fully mobilize the fleets, but we do have Battlefleet Yamato and the remainder of Captain Remus and Tarius' battlegroups. I'll send them along with 5 Companies of Ultramarines to assist."

"Thank you milords, the people of Shanxi will not forget your help." Gordon, Senior Captain of Albionus' Great Company and Governor of Shanxi said.

"I'm sure they will. In the meantime, get your ships at Shanxi refitted, we have finished developing a few new weapons, including the newly developed wave motion cannon and the graviton spreader. You used them in the hypothetical simulators back in training, so I'm sure you know how to use them. By the way the reinforcements en-route have been refitted already so don't worry about them."

"Yes sir!"

"Good, good luck and fight well my sons" with that the 2 Hardlight projections of the Primarchs vanished into thin air, leaving behind Albionus and Gordon in the communications room. "So," Albionus started, "what do we have for our defense?"

"We got 3 million ships, 500 ODPs and 3 Starbases for the defense of orbit. We got 150,000,000 Guardsmen, 170,000 Astartes if you include Remus, Tarius and the reinforcements we are promised on the ground. In addition, we got twenty thousand heavy weapons emplacements scattered across each city and 3 thousand tanks, 1000 land dreadnoughts and 5000 robots in the forest, waiting for orders."

"We only have that few?" Albionus asked incredulously, he was expecting to have at least a force that's tripled the amount of guardsmen currently available.

"Dude what'd you expect on a newly colonized backwater planet? Shanxi only has 100 billion civilians living, barely one percent on any other world that's not newly colonised and this is the only damn city on the planet! We were damn lucky to have even a fifth of the amount of guardsmen we have now thanks to those mass relays. I can levy maybe a few hundred million civilians to fight but that'd be stupid and would violate our oaths to protect them!"

"...Where will you place them?" Albionus asked after a moment's silence.

"The Governor's Palace, it's the most fortified complex on the planet." tense silence reigned over the room, the palace was indeed the most protected place, but due to it's significance it will become the heart of the ground battle, making it dangerous for the civilians to stay in. "I pray that you're right. I'll be overseeing the ground defenses with the other captains." Albionus finally said, padding his friend's left pauldron before leaving the room.

"I sure do hope so, my friend. Because if I'm wrong, I wouldn't be able to live with the fact that I sent everyone I know and love on Shanxi to their deaths." Gordon replied quietly while lowering his head, then left the quiet room to prepare for war.

* * *

In the war room of the Ark stood 4 giants of 4 different species debating on the issue of Shanxi. "I've received word of a hostile first contact Emperor, are you sure you do not need assistance?" The Forerunner asked.

"Negative Didact, but we will launch a counterattack soon after these upstarts retaliate, so we'll appreciate any help from you by then." The Emperor replied.

"Very well, we will prepare the Ecumene 1st to 5th fleets to assist; we will have 50 Legions of Promethean Warrior Servants joining them." The Forerunner known by title as the Didact responded.

"The Sangheili Fleet of Absolute Justice and Fleet of Particular Retribution, alongside their contingent of warriors will join your war as well." The Sangheili said.

"And the Eldar 1st to 3rd Armadas with the 1st Warhost of Khaine will join too." The Eldar added.

"My thanks; by the way what is the progress of our negotiations with the Protoss, San'Shyuum and Iscandarians?"

"Current negotiations are going smoothly; I think that it will take a few more weeks before they consider joining us."

"Good, then I believe that this meeting is adjourned," with that the Emperor turned to leave the room, his golden armor radiating bright light of warmth along the way. "Charming bastard, isn't he?" The Didact chuckled, before leaving the room as well, followed by the remaining 2 leaders.

* * *

Albionus looked at the massive assembly forge disassembling the Vigilance while beginning to install the new technologies into the massive ship. "Wave motion technology huh?" He mused, before being padded on the back. He turned to see the chief engineer of the Vigilance.

"Chief," Albionus greeted.

"Beautiful thing, isn't she? That Wave motion thing is one damn beauty, it makes use of tachyon particles to tap into multiple dimensions, giving our ship nearly unlimited juice, and unfortunately the output isn't as much as the Nova reactors so I guess this will act as an addition."

"What are the lists of upgrades we're gonna get for the fleet?"

"Well for starters, the MACs are getting replaced with a Wave Motion Gun, R&D accidentally destroyed an entire planet with 1 concentrated shot and 200 drone ships with a dispersion shot, so I'd say it's a very good upgrade. Be noted though, these bastards take a long time to charge and when you fire it, you need to have extremely targeting algorithms, so we're installing an additional AI to do so.

Then we got that Wave Motion engine, it will provide a lot of juice and will boost our combat speed considerably. It's also a major component of the gun as it provides the dimensional energy needed to fire the thing. All Lance Turrets are replaced with tachyon lance Turrets, they'll be weaker than the wave motion gun but they'll be a lot more accurate and fire faster. Graviton spreaders are also installed, if we fire a wave motion blast to it, it will amplify the beam to maximize damage, they can also deflect enemy shots, creating a new layer of shields.

The Plasma reactors are replaced with more Nova Reactors, while the Plasma shield are completely replaced with a wave motion shield, much more powerful and doesn't need coolant. For broadside turrets, we have completely replaced all our weapons systems with tachyon projectile turrets, they are less accurate and less powerful than their bigger brothers but they fire extremely fast.

Our loads of missiles are now composed of purely antimatter missile swarms, each micro missile having 4 kilograms of antimatter and we got 50 of them in each missile, giving us at least 2 million missiles to shoot. All 20,000 Torpedoes have been installed with singularity bombs and a disposable Element Zero jump drive after extensively studying the Turians' tech. 50 Dark Matter Projectors are also installed to increase Primary firepower, and boy oh boy are they effective.

Lastly, our ships' systems are fully upgraded with hardlight projections, while all systems have received minor upgrades, increasing her efficiency by 50 percent. All in all, our ships are now faster, meaner and tougher than they ever were." He replied enthusiastically, startling the Captain.

"That's... nice," Albionus finally said before receiving a notification from his neural lace, "Well it seems that I have other urgent matters to attend, a pleasure speaking with you Chief," then he quickly turned to leave the observation deck to a teleportation beamer at the shipyards, "Uh, your welcome!" He heard a reply, then the door slammed shut and the teleportation beamer sent him to the command center.

He saw Gordon speaking with 2 'regular' humans, likely the commanding officers of Battlefleet Yamato, "What's the matter Senior Captain?" He asked, Gordon turned around to address him. "Captain, you're here just in time! I hereby introduce Admiral Jeremy Shepard and Captain Hannah Shepard, Commander of Battlefleet Yamato and Captain of the Yamato respectively." The admiral looked very young, handsome look and had black short hair while the Captain was beyond beautiful; she was comparable to a goddess. Long blond hair, crystal-blue eyes, her lower and upper assets hugging together tightly in the BDU she's wearing, Albionus noticed some of the men looking at her wolfishly but restrained themselves through sheer will and discipline.

"A pleasure meeting you two," the Athenian greeted immediately. "A question, are you two..."

"Siblings? No, we are a married couple, MILKCOMM didn't fuss about it and the 2 of us are known to be almost unstoppable when working together so there should be no problem whatsoever." Hannah replied, instantly destroying all hope of the men courting the beautiful woman. "Good to know, so what's your plan to defend this planet?" Jeremy raised his left hand and a three dimensional hardlight map of the Shanxi system materialised in front of the group.

"The Mass Relay is located 2 AU from Shanxi, and between them is a massive asteroid field surrounded by a gas cloud. We will have the fleet distract them and lure them to the asteroid field, when they entered the asteroid field, the gas cloud would disrupt the enemy sensors but not ours due to being entirely different tech base that had those gases in mind. We will then have ships whose class is Battleship or above at Shanxi orbit, they will fire volleys of wave motion guns at the enemy with graviton spreaders boosting them. The blast will likely destroy the asteroid field and the gas cloud, taking much of the enemy fleet with them.

"They have short range FTL drives," Gordon and Albionus noted, then realization dawned the 2 Astartes as the Admiral made a chuckle.

"Which will be negated by the asteroids since they do not go through dimesions," the Admiral finished.

"What if they break through the lines? Their technology may be primitive but we haven't seen exactly how well they perform."

"Then the fleet will regroup at Shanxi orbit to make a final stand."

Suddenly, Xerxes abruptly rushed into the command room, he looked terrified and if an AI is terrified, then the situation is truely dire, "Sirs and ma'am, probes just detected a massive enemy fleet approaching, matches Turian profiles!"

"How many ships and when they will arrive?"

"Estimates show at least 120 million vessels, of which more than 20 million of which are unarmed, likely to be support vessels and troop transports. They will be arriving into the system in 28 hours" Stunned silence reigned over the entire room; Jeremy was the first to recompose from the shock. "Then let's get to it ladies and gentlemen, this battle will determine the fate of 100 billion lives, we can't and won't leave them to the mercy of those alien assholes, for the Imperium and for Shanxi!" He said.

"For the Imperium and Shanxi!" Everyone yelled together, and then rushed to their duties. Albionus and Gordon began coordinating ground defenses while Gordon received a call, accepting it, he started the conversation, "Governor Hickerson here, who is this?"

"Gordon, it's me Marianne, I want to help in the evacuation of the City!"

"No! I want you safe inside the Palace spire, have our palace servants do this instead."

"These are our people, they are our responsibility dammit! Either you allow me to take part in the evacuations or I'll do it myself, with or without your retarded permission!" She finished, Gordon's wife had just gave him the always invincible woman's ultimatum, and it was impossible to reject it, "Alright, fine! Assemble all Palace Guards and help with the evacuation, but run at the first sign of any kind of danger. Do you understand lady?"

"Perfectly," She said before disconnecting immediately.

"Is it your wife?" Albionus asked.

"Yes, that stupid woman is gonna get herself nto trouble,' Gordon replied, frustration and anger extremely evident in his unfiltered voice.

"I'll send a squad of Astartes to look after her, make sure she doesn't get herself killed." Albionus stated.

"You have my thanks, brother. That'll help a lot."

"No problem, we're Astartes, we look after one another." Albionus said, then leaving the Command Centre to gather the squad and to get his equipment ready for the upcoming storm.

* * *

Codex

Assets

Turian Armed Forces

*Naval Composition*

Peacekeeping fleet

Number of active groups: 50 Fleets

Number of reserve groups: 20 Fleets

Number of groups under training: 10 Fleets

Number of each fleet: 5,000 vessels

Specialty: Peacekeeping operations, Region stabilisation

Being the peacetime law enforcement fleet of Citadel territory, the Turian Peacekeeping fleets are well known for their expertise in fighting wars with pirates, using superior tactics and technologies to win the superior numbers of outlaws. However, they are equally capable of fighting wars with other interstellar civilizations when necessary but it was never tested since the Hierarchy hadn't discovered any new species. Currently, Hierarchy shipyards are producing 10 more fleets' worth of peacekeeping vessels to better enforce Citadel laws the regions near the Terminus Systems

War Fleets

Number of active groups: 1000 Fleets

Number of reserve groups: 500 Fleets

Number of groups under training: 20 Fleets

Number of each group: 500,000 vessels

Specialty: Total War, ranging from fleet battles to orbital support

Formed during the Korean Rebellions, the Turian War Fleets are a menacing sight to behold. With 2000 Dreadnoughts, 1000 Heavy Dreadnoughts and 5 Super dreadnoughts forming the core of each Fleet, their firepower is second to none in Citadel Space. Although this particular section in the Turian Navy is the most inactive Military Division (aside from military exercise) as it was only active during the Krogan Rebellions, they always received state-of-the-art equipment and ships, along with the brightest and most capable minds the Turians could offer since the military always believed that a constant state of military readiness is always required if they are to be the military arm of the Citadel. Active build-up is always seen in this Division as the Turians believed that numbers are very important to win a war.

Logistics Support Fleets

Number of active groups: 100 Fleets

Number of reserve groups: 50

Number of groups under training: 10

Number in each group: 7000 Supply Ships, 3000 Mobile Repair Shipyards

An army is not just the combat strength, it is also about the supplies and support, hence the development of this particular type of fleet, carrying ton after ton of food and spare parts, the logistics support Fleets' sole purpose is to provide repairs and supplies to the space and ground forces of the Hierarchy in the event of a massive and long operation. They are absolutely defenceless against even fighters as they have no weapons other than the ship itself to fight, so they are usually in the rear lines of a Turian task force to remain out of the fight.

Turians assigned to this post are usually those whose performance in physical training were inadequate to become a frontline soldier but fit enough to join the service, there are also some who violated military regulations sent here as a penance for their actions until further notice, which usually meant that the punishment is due until the day the Turian in question is retired.

*Ground Composition*

Battle Legions

Number of active groups: 1000 Legions

Number of reserve groups: 5000 Legions

Number of groups under training: 150 Legions

Number in each group: 600,000 Infantry personnel; 100,000 armoured personnel; 10,000 Officers; 300,000 support personnel

Specialty: Ground Warfare, Application of overwhelming firepower

The Turian Hierarchy always believed in only total war once a conflict begins, hence the formation of the Battle Legions, each a Legion is a professional military unit dedicated to the utter destruction of the enemy, the combined usage of Highly-Adaptable Infantry, expendable drones and heavily armed Hover Transports makes them a true power to be reckoned with. To traverse the stars, the Legions have their own transport fleet of 1000 ships.

During the Krogan Rebellions, the battle Legions are sent on every front to stem and push back the seemingly endless tide of Korgan warbands, they fought valiantly but in the end, they were insufficient to win the wars, necessitating the deployment of the Genophage, staining the honour of the hearts of the Turian legionaries serving there for their failure to push back the Krogan without using the evil, horrifying bio weapon.

Blackwatch Legions

Number of active groups: 50

Number of reserve group: 10

Number of groups under training: 0

Number in each group: 50,000 Combat personnel, 5,000 officers

Specialty: Unconventional Warfare, Conventional Warfare

Blackwatch Legionaries are the best warriors the Hierarchy can ever offer, their formation consist of purely elite infantry capable of doing things that would be considered impossible even by a Krogan warrior. These well trained warriors are often candidates for the SPECTRE Corp.

Numerous Turians applied for the Blackwatch training, among every 1 millions, less than 1 could join it, ans those that join are often veterans of countless operations as a Battle Legionary. If a situation warrants more than 1 Legion of Blackwatch, then the situation is very dire.

* * *

WIKIPEDIA

Coalition of Unified Species Military Assets

Human Navy

Battlefleet Yamato

Number of ships in Fleet:

1 Yamato Class Super Flagship;

24 Andromeda Class Flagships;

75 Noah Class Superdreadnoughts;

900 Musashi Class Heavy Dreadnoughts;

4500 Hammerhead Class Dreadnoughts;

1500 Yamamoto Class Supercarriers;

3000 Nimitz Class Heavy Carriers;

60,000 Texas Class Super Battleships;

100,000 Montana Class Battleships;

150,000 Crusader Class Superheavy Cruisers;

140,000 Manticore Class Superheavy Cruisers;

500,000 Galaxy Class Heavy Cruisers;

540,000 Kongo Class Cruisers;

450,000 Purification Class Light Cruisers;

1,000,000 drone ships.

(Totaling 1,950,000 Ships excluding drone ships)

Built by the Japanese-made Shipyards on Asian orbit of Earth, the Yamato fleet represents Japan's significant technological contribution to Humanity and devotion to the Imperium. Numbering at nearly 2 million ships, it is a significantly small battlefleet compared to the other fleets but has the Yamato, the only ship in her class and almost as powerful as The Emperor's and the Primarchs' Flagships.

Plans are made to expand the Yamato Fleet with 4 additional Yamato Classes, 48 Andromeda Classes and 2 million Warlord Class Heavy Destroyers. This will make them roughly 50 percent the size of a regular battlefleet.

* * *

 **Please review thank you**


	4. Battle of Shanxi (Part 1)

**First, I apologize for being late in uploading this chapter, I've done the dumbest thing in my life and accidentally deleted this chapter. So I spent most of the time rewriting this, and as compensation, this chapter will be slightly longer.**

 **Second, I'd like to point out that I will buff ME races a lot since I've always found the issue that the a race 1000 to 2000 years in space couldn't build ships as big as 3 kilometers or efficiently use an element that they've made used of since they went to space, stupid as hell. So they will be stronger to make it easier for me to write fight scenes, which may be shit.**

 **Anyways, enjoy and please review!**

* * *

Desolas Arterius and Saren Arterius looked at the massive fleet that had gathered by the Hierarchy, "It's the single largest assembling of Turian warships" Saren started, "And I can't believe that we are the ones leading it." It was true, during the Krogan Rebellions, only 50 million ships were reported to be together at once and back in the days, even the Krogan would regret facing them.

"It will be enough," Desolas said, gaining his younger brother's attention, "It will be more than enough to regain our lost honor." He said again with more pride in his voice, then snapped back to reality and turned to Saren, "Send in the probes, I doubt our enemy here won't set up some minefields around the Relay as a welcoming gift for our fleet"

With a nod of acknowledgement, Saren began issuing orders, "All ships enter battle formation 2-6-2! Deploy Probes '01' to '55' to gauge enemy strength." The combined fleet complied, and began forming into their ordered formation, millions of ships moved in such synchronization that many would thought it was a living being dancing around the cosmos. Tiny little probes then launched from some of the Turian vessels and sped towards the Relay. In a few seconds, they were sent across thousands of light years.

"Probe cameras, up!"

"We can't sir, They're destroyed!" One of the tactical officers replied, shock evident in his tone.

"Confirm that!"

"Yes sir, confirmed twice. They're destroyed the moment they entered the system."

"That's impossible! No race could have destroyed things this quickly." Saren said in disbelief.

Desolas smirked at his brother's words and issued his commands, "Have the 127th war fleet gather 50,000 mid sized asteroids from the nearby field then send them to the system. The probes were probably destroyed by a minefield." The moment he finished issuing his orders, the crew sprang into action and Desolas watched as a comparatively small fleet broke formation to gather the requested asteroids for their coming operation.

"Signal the other fleets, change to 'Loose Varren' formation to make way for the asteroids when the 127th is done" He ordered before looking at the system's star, marveling at it's beauty.

* * *

"Can you confirm that again sailor?" Jeremy Shepard asked from the admiral's chair, secretly hoping that the enemy would like the nasty surprise he prepared for them

"Confirm, mines 32 through 45 have detonated."

"Any signs of the enemy fleet?"

"Negative sir, only 55 signatures entered the system, and they all got destroyed by the detonations."

'Damn it,' Jeremy mentally cursed, those blasted aliens have found the mines, that means the odds had just gotten far worse than originally planned. He had to to rearrange the battle plans and rearrange it quickly if he didn't want to be caught off-guard, but he knew that there wouldn't be enough time to move them so he had to make due. "Sir, more contacts getting out of the relay! They're... They're asteroids?" One of the officers reported while being baffled by the bizarre signs of asteroids coming out of a mass relay.

"Status on the minefields?" Jeremy asked.

"All mines have been triggered sir, not a single one left"

"Are all ships in place?"

"Yes sir,"

"Good job. Now, we wait."

"What do you have in mind Admiral?" Hannah asked, who was sitting at the Captain's chair, asked.

"I have a hunch that the Turian commanding their fleet is a good one," He replied nonchalantly, then grinned, "We may have ourselves some real fun since the battle simulation back at the Naval Academy

Hannah laughed quietly, "You and me both Admiral, you and me both..."

Suddenly alarms blared uncontrollably as Jeremy demanded to know the cause of it, "Turian ships entering the system in massive numbers. Preliminary scans shows at least 100 million ships, it's them Admiral, the Xenos have come."

"Then let's give them a fight they'll remember! Alert all hands to battle-stations, and order the fleet to commence Battle Plan Welcoming Party!"

* * *

"... Commence Battle Plan Welcoming Party!" With those words spoken, Fleet Captain Trevor grinned.

"All ships, turn to your starboard side and power up your weaponry there, as well as all tachyon lances and dark matter projectors that can be rotated to that side. Sending targeting solutions to your AIs now." Trevor said. A few nervous minutes later, short range sensors started to ping red dots, they were increasing rapidly by each second. "Hostile vessels have entered maximum attack range for long ranged weaponry. 200,000 kilometers until they've reached broadside range." A tactical officer reported.

"Fire all long ranged weaponry, concentrate quantum barrier and the wave motion shield on our starboard." As the bridge crew moved to carry out their orders by diverting energies from the energy reserves, Trevor saw the Quantum barrier's and Wave Motion Shield's power concentration on their starboard side increased exponentially through the Captain's personal ship monitor.

"Enemies in range of broadside weaponry!" the tactical officer from before reported. Then massive energy spikes were made visible to the sensor officer, "Sir, enemy ships have opened fire, gravity disruption torpedoes and simple slugs." He reported.

"Activate PHAlanx Gamma LAser Defense System and shoot down those torpedoes. We can't stop high speed slugs so we'll have to tank them." Trevor ordered swiftly.

"Yes sir!"

Trevor watched with amusement as the slow moving torpedoes of the Turian fleet were obliterated with ease by the lethal gamma lasers from the PHAGLADS, rendering them entirely useless. "Sir, enemy fleet has fired another salvo of slugs!" Trevor blinked his eye in surprise, he expected them to fire slower, but it seemed he had underestimated the enemy, he must compensate.

"Fire all starboard-facing weaponries, and then activate maneuvering thrusters and turn us around with all shields and barriers concentrated on our aft, we're going to bug out as originally planned." The fleet opened fire, decorating the dark void with blue beams and bolts of death, destroying Turian vessels by the hundreds of thousands with ease. This was immediately followed by beams of dark matter, impacting and disintegrating Turian ships like a knife cutting through butter.

The Imperial ships then turned around in an orderly fashion, and began accelerating towards Shanxi's orbit while the two salvos of mass accelerators hit them like water splashing at a wall as the rounds shattered under the counter-strength of the Quantum Barriers. While it didn't cause any damage, the hit Imperial ships shook violently by the struggle between their defenses and the high velocity slugs.

* * *

"Spirits curse those upstarts," Desolas muttered, that return fire had devastated his vanguard fleet, but luckily his troop transports were unscathed so they still had a fighting chance, "All combat capable ships, set a course for the gas cloud and prepare for short range FTL jump, destination is directly in the midst of the enemy fleet. Arm all broadside weaponries and prepare all fighters, we'll deploy them the moment we drop FTL. Transport fleets will jump to 5,000 kilometers from our destination and insert the ground units. We move and jump on my word, in the meantime get yourselves ready and pray to whatever deity you believe in."

"Why aren't we pursuing the current fleet?" Saren asked, puzzled by the lack of action from his brother.

Desolas chuckled in amusement "Our greatest weapon in this battle isn't our numbers, nor is it our superior technology," Desolas mentally scolded himself because of the last part, "It's our FTL drives. Between the enemy fleet and our fleet is an asteroid field shrouded by a gas cloud, the gas cloud will disrupt our sensors, rendering our FTL drives useless, that would give the enemy a really good opportunity to unleash whatever they have on us." He explained.

"By the way, you'll gather our best shipboard marines and join the ground forces on the ground. Coordinate with General Oraka to achieve the best results possible," He ordered, Saren looked hesitant at first at the mention of cooperation with his army counterpart but obeyed nonetheless, and rushed out of the bridge, eager to prove his worth to the Hierarchy despite his hesitation to work with Oraka.

A few minutes later, Desolas watched as Saren's shuttle, along with many thousand others carrying Turian Marines, disembarked from their ships and sped towards the transport ships, dropping off the marines to assist in the ground invasion. 'Lets hope the enemy doesn't understand what we're doing' Desolas thought before focusing his attention back at the tactical display, hoping to exploit every weakness he can find.

He found none.

But he still intended to continue the plan, as his fleet was not of importance, it was the army since they would be needed to take the planet, so he gave the word. "Begin approach," he ordered, the ships began to accelerate, he could feel his ship shift but paid no mind to it. As the fleet began to approach the gas cloud, he heard a shout, "Sir, energy spikes from the enemy fleet, they're firing!"

"Execute FTL jump." He ordered calmly, and he watched in awe as thousands of blue beams of death lashed towards his fleet. Then an instant later, his fleet entered faster-than-light speeds, and he mentally sighed a relief.

* * *

"Sir, enemy fleet has entered FTL, wave motion beams have missed!" a tactical officer reported.

"What? Where are they?" asked a confused Jeremy, his question was soon answered as tens of millions of ships appeared right in the center of their formation, guns blazing and hangar bays pouring out fighters. Then his ship shook violently, "Report!"

"Quantum Barriers on all sides have sustained forty percent energy drain, port side suffered sixty," the energy distribution officer reported.

"Admiral, scans are showing that only the enemy combat vessels are seen engaging us, none of the transports ships are present in the battle zone," the sensors' officer reported.

"Scan the entire planet and the 200,000 kilometers of space surrounding it!" He quickly ordered, hoping it wasn't what he thought it was. As the sensor' officers did their work, the battle raged on. Fighter craft met fighter craft in dogfights, turrets destroy ships by the dozens. While slugs bounce off or dug into ships. "Scans complete," The sensors officer called out.

"Enemy transport fleet is currently 5,000 kilometers off our starboard, they're deploying their troops to the planet as we speak,"

"And Send me priority ALPHA message to Shanxi Command, tell them we got ground troops deploying to the city and attach the data required for better ground coordination, send them my apologies as well," Jeremy ordered the communications officer, then at the tactical officers, "I want frigate squadron 13 to intercept and eliminate those transports, and tell Trevor to get back here double time!"

"Aye sir!"

Suddenly the ship shook violently, unbalancing some of the crew members, who tried to compensate but failed and dropped to the ground hard, "What hit us?" Demanded Jeremy.

"Boarding pods have crashed into hangar bay 12 while we were deploying our fighters, shipboard marines and automated security are engaging them as we speak."

"How many of the boarders are there?" The hangar bays of the Yamato were massive places, there could be as much as a hundred thousand soldiers in each of them.

"There is... There is approximately 30,000 Turian troops in the ship, all of which are in the hangar 12!"

"Deactivate artificial gravity and send all units down there ASAP. Alert all shipboard security that combat zone will be that of zero-g. And get me Captain Varis, I want him at the armory by the time I get there."

"Sir?" A tactical officer asked, confused by the Admiral's orders.

"You heard me sailor, get it done," with that he left, leaving the bridge crew to their work.

The tactical officer looked at Hannah, begging her for orders, and she nodded. "Do it."

"All ships, this is Fleet Captain Hannah Shepard, the Admiral is currently unavailable for command, and as such I will take command until further notice, Shepard out."

* * *

"Hostiles, 4 o'clock!" Sergeant Cormack of the Marine Corps called out. The enemy have chosen a damn good moment to board the ship, and his marines and the enemy's had suffered terrible casualties. He fired his AR-15 again, it's 5.56 caliber mass reactive rounds hitting a Turian's kinetic barriers, who got out of cover to fire off a shot, then at his forehead, leaving a headless Turian as the explosive content in the round detonated.

As he was searching for the next target, the ship speakers boomed. "All hands in hangar 12, artificial gravity will be deactivated in 10 seconds, please activate your magnetic boots to prevent uncontrolled drifting" it spoke calmly, something that had always annoyed Cormack.

"Mag Boots, now!" Cormack quickly ordered, and the marines swiftly activated their magnetic boots while ship automatic systems began locking all essential assets, which were either fighters that hadn't launched, or the inactive mech battle armor. "Remember our zero-g training boys, because I'm sure as hell certain that our metal birds here don't!" He yelled into the vox.

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Zero-g in 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Artificial gravity deactivated." True to the speakers words, Turians and numerous supply crates started to float uncontrollably while the marines remained standing, albeit feeling a bit light. The marines went off their cover, and opened fire on the helpless Turians, ripping them apart with mass reactive bullets. Some Turians managed to use the zero-g to their advantage and managed to reach into melee range of the marines that were closer to them. Cormack was amonst those marines

Three of them were heading to him, superheated silicon blades in their arms. Noticing them, Cormack fired 3 quick bursts into one of them, overheating his kinetic barriers while ripping his torso, or carapace apart. The other two managed to dive to him, ready to impale the sergeant. The sergeant dodged the first strike, but didn't recover his balance for the second strike in time, which pierced his plasma shield made a slash across his left shoulder.

Looking at his ruined pauldron, it was a melted sludge. "Holy shit, that would hurt a lot if I hadn't had a pauldron there," He muttered, then he looked at the two Turians and unsheathed his vibration-sword, and charged at the Turians. He made the first strike, but was parried by the first Turian and forcing the sergeant into a deadlock, his movement sluggish in the weightless environment, yet surprisingly effective.

It amazed him.

The other Turian then came in for a strike, this time aiming for his head. The sergeant kicked a left sidekick at the first Turian, who couldn't evade it in time and tanked it, cracking his armor and carapace while sending him floating away. He was sure the Turian would live as the zero-g would reduce the weight of his power-armored leg substantially, and thus reducing the overall force of the kick.

But he didn't have much of a choice as the second Turian made his strike. Cormack expertly parried the strike and swung his sword down on the Turian, hoping to disarm him by cutting the arm. To both his amazement and dismay, the Turian dodged the strike and stroke at him again, this time at his left leg. The sergeant saw it coming and punched the Turian's arm hard, breaking the bones and leaving the Turian weaponless.

It was then the first Turian came back and had his blade ran deep into the sergeant's torso, who proceeded to behead the Turian with his sword, the blade's sharp molecular-vibrating-edge severing the Turian's molecular-bonds on his neck. The head floated off wildly, purple blood spilling from both his severed head and limp body, forming into floating droplets the moment they were exposed to the zero-g environment.

The injured sergeant slumped to the ground on one knee in pain. The blade felt like a flaming pillar burning his skin, he could feel his military-enhanced healing factor kicking in, shedding burnt skin and meat to regenerate them anew. 'That's another scar for my career.' He thought. He slowly, but painfully stood up, and noticed that the boarding battle had ended, most of the Turians were dead, but those that weren't were too wounded to fight on.

"Warrior-race huh?" He muttered before looking at the Turian, whose arm was broken by him earlier. He looked pissed, and kept on resisting the paramedics' assistance and the marines' restraints. It was only pointing a gun at his forehead did he stop resisting, even then he still looked vengeful, as if the marines had killed his entire family. "Yep, definitely a warrior-race," he muttered before falling to the ground, going unconscious due to the pain.

* * *

"How did the anti-boarding action go?" Jeremy asked while suiting up in his power armour. This particular variant introduces additional rear thrusters for the armour and an inch thicker of vibranium, granting the admiral better protection while slightly increasing his overall speed at the cost of less energy reserves, something that he thought was unnecessary given the nature of boarding actions being swift.

"Enemy had lost approximately 24,000 troops while we lost 300 to their combined arms of melee and ranged. According to some, they've fought some of our marines into a stalemate in melee combat. We also captured the remaining ones, who were too wounded to fight on, while we suffered around 200 wounded as well." Captain Varis reported.

"A testament to their capabilities as warriors," Jeremy praised, "compile data regarding how they fight and their weaponry and send them to my office after the battle is ended, the Primarchs would like to study them."

"Yes sir!"

"Prep me a platoon of marines and have them ready at boarding ram 10. These aliens thought they can board us and then getting away, I'll prove them wrong."

* * *

Gordon was overlooking the fortifications of the palace and the evacuations of civilians into it, the evacuation process was going too slow, with only 80 billion people inside the palace. If the enemy decided to attack now, a full fifth of the planet's population would be dead in an instant. Turning from the sight, he looked over the tactical layout of the city. He had set up numerous checkpoints with war robots, tanks and heavy weapons emplacements guarding them. Furthermore, Astartes were placed all across the city, operating in 100-strong platoons, roaming the city.

As he was considering were to put the remaining guardsmen that were in reserve, he received a transmission from Admiral Shepard, as he read it, his face paled, "Oh shit," He muttered, he was then interrupted by red alarms blaring across the palace, "Report!" He ordered, hoping it wasn't what the Admiral said in the message.

"Hundreds of thousands of enemy dropships detected, they're deploying all across the city, Astartes and guard units report sightings of heavy weapons and combat vehicles!" An Ultramarine reported.

"Status on anti-air defences?"

"Enemy forces are taking ten percent casualties from AA defences across the city, they've suffered one hundred percent losses while attempting to break through the palace defences, they haven't made another attempt as of now." Another Ultramarine reported.

"Good, keep it that way." He then turned to Albionus, "Pace up the evacuation process Albionus, we can't afford to have any delays. Send Captain Antonio and Captain Honorius to coordinate eastern defences while have Captain Remus and Captain Tarius to direct the western defences. You and your forces will roam the city, gather stranded civilians and troops," Gordon ordered.

"Yes sir! But what of the palace?"

"The remaining Captains and I will hold the Palace, now go."

Albionus then rushed out of the Command Room, only to see Gordon's wife, Marianne storming in. "Ma'am, we're in a combat operation, please refrain from entering the command room and head for safety." He said in a professional tone.

"Save your bullshit Albionus, I need to know what is going on!" She said angrily, making Albionus recoil from her anger.

"Ma'am, I insist that you head for safety. The Command Room is currently busy coordinating defences and the Senior Captain is speeding up the evacuation process, your interruption may cause unwanted disruptions for the military."

"I don't care, I'm going in."

"Marianne!" Albionus burst out, causing the woman to stop, "Gordon is a fucking Senior Captain already, he is absolutely capable of directing Shanxi's defence with or without your help!" He then calmed down, "I know you're worried about him, and I know you'd say that you'll be able to help since you've commanded 100,000 Javelins before, but keeping you safe is already the best thing you could do to help him. Imagine what would he become if you'd die..."

The woman simply stared at him, saying nothing. The she sighed, "you're right Albionus, I should have let him do what he thinks is the best. I'm sorry for my rude behaviour, I'll seek shelter with the civilians and help coordinate the Palace's inner defences." With that, she turned and left for the underground shelter.

"You better do so Ma'am, for your god damn husband" He muttered, before sprinting to the Palace entrance and gathering his company.

5 minutes later, he and his company gathered at the palace's left wing. "Centurion Terrax, Centurion Arnold, your cohorts will be supporting Captain Honorius and Captain Antonio respectively. Centurion Mordox, Centurion Nelson, you two will be with Captain Remus and Captain Tarius respectively. All other cohorts will be with me, we will gather any stranded units in the battle zone and herd them back here, either as refugees or as additional defenders for the palace, understood?"

"Crystal clear sir."

"Good, now-" an explosion west from their position interrupted the Captain.

Then the vox flickered to life, "This is Captain Gregory under the Imperial Guard 251st Shanxi Regiment!" the voice announced. "Xenos forces have launched a surprise attack on the western spires, western assets are currently preoccupied by enemy forces and we are in dire need of assistance, over!"

"This is Captain Albionus, Ultramarines 524th Company, what is your status? Where is Captain Remus?"

"Sir! Captain Remus and all Ultramarine units in the western defenses are engaged with a massive enemy strike force and are fully committing their forces to stem the incursion. My regiment, originally under late Colonel Himovic, are currently engaged with Javelin-level hostiles. They're numbering in the thousands."

"Hold on, Captain, help is on their way, " Albionus stated, then disconnected.

"Javelin level? We better be careful if they can match the Imperium's spear." Terrax mused, murmurs of agreement following his words.

"Regardless of the enemy's strength, our duty stands." He looked at Terrax, "Terrax and Arnold will continue their mission. The rest of the 524th will reinforce the western defenses, now move out!" He ordered, and the Ultramarines went their separate transports, preparing to deliver their wrath.

* * *

"Reloading" Gregory shouted, ducking behind cover and ditching his spent battery clip. His regiment had suffered thousands of losses by those surprise attacks, it would be lucky that even a hundred men of the 251st survive this by the end of the battle. Locking the battery into his lasgun, he peeked again and fired a shot, scoring a hit and killing a Turian Javelin.

As he searched for another target, a burst of the Xeno slugs bounced off his shield, quickly overloading it and forcing him into cover. Cursing in his mother language, he armed a grenade and threw it out. It detonated, sending a few Turians flying, some without a limb or two. The Turians then retreated, determining that the losses would not be worth the continuation of this wave of the assault

Smiling slightly at their retreat, he turned to his surviving men and the grimaced at the sight before him. Not only did his thoughts about the amount of troops he would have by the end of the engagement rang true, but they were also suffering from extensive fatigue.

Knowing that they had to fight on, he shook his negative thoughts aside, "Alright boys, the Xenos will come back for another strike. Gather whatever battery clips and ammo you can and shore up our fortifications."

"Sir, are you sure we'll make it out of this?" a private asked quietly, the remaining two dozen or so guardsmen started at him, then at their captain, wanting to know his answer.

For a second, the Captain hesitated but he answered nonetheless, "we will make it out of this private, the Ultramarines promised us that. And when we do, which we will, we will remember all those who fell here, " he gestured towards the ruined spire garden they were on, where dozens of guardsmen and Xenos soldier lie dead. "Through name and deed."

The private, as well as the remaining guardsmen, stared at the Captain. Then one by one, they nodded and went to gather munitions, determined to live through the day. Nodding his head in approval, the Captain himself went to gather a few grenades. If he was going down, he would go with a bang.

He soon gathered a few dozen grenades from the dead and distributed them across the surviving men, then he heard one of his men shout, "Incoming!" Before a focused burst from afar overloaded his shields and shot through his throat, drowning him in his own blood.

"To cover, now!" Gregory ordered, he them ducked behind a piece of rubble, where a recently reloaded stationary heavy bolter was place, and manned it with another guardsman. He opened fire, unleashing a mass reactive rain of death onto the Turian troops, ripping those unlucky to be shot apart.

"Suppressing fire! Don't let those bastards through!" He barked out. The men didn't answer, instead, their lasguns answered for them in the form of laser beams speeding across the spire, burning flesh and vaporizing rockcrete with each shot.

Despite the heavy fire, the Turian Javelins remained dauntless and continued to advance while the ammunition of the guardsmen began to run low, one spent battery turned to two spent batteries and so on. Soon the guardsmen ran out of ammunition and grenades, with their only weapons being the power knives and power bayonets.

He lowered his head, "bayonets, up." He simply said. The last of the 251st mounted their power bayonets and prepared for their first, and final charge. The lack of fire made the Turians advance with renewed vigor, but when they reached the guard position, they witnessed firsthand humanity's courage.

"For the Imperium!" with roars rivaling those of the Astartes, Captain Gregory led the last of the 251st straight into the Turian forces, using their shocked state to great effect. Power bayonets stabbed enhanced Turian flesh, their disruption field severing molecular bonds. When the lasguns' frames were ruined, the guardsmen ditched it and unsheathed their power knives, and dug them deep into various parts of Turian supersoldiers, either make them suffer in agony or outright killing them.

But it was not enough, for they were outnumbered by the hundreds. As the shock subsided, that ratio increased until only a scant few, including Gregory himself, remained standing amongst a hill of dead Turians and guardsmen, undaunted by the thought of death.

When Gregory was about to call for one final charge, multiple bolts of mass reactive bullets flew past them and hit a few Turians, blowing them to bits and pieces. When Gregory turned to the shooters, he grinned.

* * *

"Intensify application of firepower on the center!" Albionus ordered.

They had arrived just in time to witness the final stand of the 251st, and he was very impressed with their unflinching resolve in doing their duty. The bolters of the 524th roared like ferocious beasts as they eject round after round of explosive projectiles, brutally murdering any Turian hit by them, their shields doing their best to protect the shots, and failed.

"Venerable Telemechus, Venerable Justarian, begin your indomitable advance. 5201st platoon, join the advance and fortify these areas." He ordered.

"I. Hear. And. Obey," boomed Telemechus, who then slowly stomped forward, guns blazing from his arms, shoulders and chest. The massive Annihilator-pattern Land Dreadnought shrugged round after round, rocket after rocket from the Turian Javelins with his impenetrable Quantum Barriers, and continued onwards, providing invaluable cover for the advancing Ultramarines.

Some Turians, whether driven by madness or desperation, decided to charge into the ranks of the advancing Astartes. Most were cut down by plasma barrages from the twin dreadnoughts or bolter fire from the 5201st, but those that didn't reached exhibited incredible combat skills, parrying and slashing Ultramarines while remaining unscathed. Albionus got annoyed by their inability to die and charged.

As he went for the first strike on a lone Turian Javelin with a blow from above with his power sword, the Turian skilfully parried it with his silicon blade. The force of the parry was impossibly powerful, it made Albionus recoil. He had hoped to end him with one swift blow and move on, but now that the Turian had shown that he was a capable swordsman, he grinned under his helmet.

He mag-holstered his plasma pistol, and made a swordsman's combat stance. The Turian seemed to get the idea, and followed suite. For a tense five seconds, the chaotic battle surrounding them felt so quiet, so calm. Then in an instant, the two warriors clashed their blades. Super-soldier against super-soldier, it was a matter of better reflex speeds and application of force, Albionus chose the former. He fought on the defensive, allowing the Turian to strike first, and he did, and he did it again... Until he began to tire from repeated strikes, it was at one instant, one microsecond, that Albionus found himself an opportunity.

He parried another strike from the Turian, then he made for a kick to the torso. The Turian saw it, but was a microsecond too late to react as the kick shattered armour and bones, forcing him to yell in pain. Feeling the Turian's grip on his silicon blade weakening and his focus disrupted, the Captain made the 360 turn and swiped his blade across the head. It was a clean cut as the sword's sharp-edged disruption field severed the molecular bonds of the Turian's head. The Turian's instantly went limp and landing on Albionus' lower torso as his brain's control over it got disconnected.

Scowling at the bloody mess it caused to his armour, he kicked the body aside and upholstered his plasma pistol and fired a few bursts, the sun hot bolts disintegrating Turians who got hit by it and badly burnt those who were near it. The surviving Turians were finally killed to a man as Telemechus and Justarian finished them off with streams of plasma bolts and particle beams.

Albionus sheathed his sword and holstered his pistol, then looked at the bloodied Captain Gregory, and approached him. "Captain Gregory, it is good to see you alive a well."

"Indeed it is, it's unfortunate that many others wouldn't be able to share the same outcome," he replied solemnly.

"They will be remembered," Albionus said, which was answered with a nod from the Guard Captain.

"Where will you take us?"

"Palace defences are under the risks of being tested by the enemy and there are still at least 3 billion civilians evacuating into the palace. As such, I was ordered to organise the central city's defences with as many men as I can possibly find stranded across the city while providing support with my Astartes for other regions. So far, I've gathered 5 guard regiments, as well as 2 maniples of war robts and 2 battalions of tanks. And I can tell you that we're short on hands and officers on on of them, so as of now, you will be temporarily reassigned to the 260th Shanxi regiment as the commanding officer of it's second battalion."

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Good, now I'll have a squad of Astartes take you to our battle-lines, hopefully a firefight won't start before you get there."

* * *

Jeremy was nervous. Hell, every marine on board boarding ram 10 was nervous. They were about to board the enemy flagship while under fire, nervous would be a huge understatement. "Last chance marines, anyone wanna bail out!" Jeremy called out.

The marines shifted in their seats uncomfortably, but showed no hesitation in her response, "Sir, no sir!"

"You guys said it yourself, no regrets!"

"No regrets!"

Then the speaker activated, "All hands, we will be conducting high speed approach on enemy flagships in 15 seconds, please prepare for any possible impact," spoke a feminine voice.

"You heard the lady, buckle up boys!"

Jeremy then felt the Yamato shift as it began to accelerate to the enemy flagship, as it was probably approaching the target, the ship shook violently, to the point that some of the strapped marines got themselves hurt. "Hotel foxtrot, who the hell is driving?" He could hear a marine groan out painfully, earning some laughs from the others. It was then the speaker chirped, "disengaging gravitonic locks for boarding ram 10, enjoy your safe entry into the enemy ship marines!"

'I'm seriously going to kill that AI when I get back,' Jeremy thought, and judging from the growls and scowls from the marines, they were in agreement. "Activating cameras!" He said, and pressed a few buttons. The dark ceiling of the boarding ram suddenly became the view of the void battle surrounding the ram as they approach the flagship. The camera came into view of some of the Turian ships, "Damn, those ships look like bird skulls," a marine remarked.

"Well, we are fighting birds with guns," a marine pointed out, earning a chuckle from Jeremy.

"Activating melta-beam in 5 seconds. All units, prepare for boarding!"

The marines unstrapped themselves and stood up, gravity locks holding them in place. They waited patiently as the melta-beam heated up and began to stream a tightly focused beam of intense heat to the flagship's hull. "Brace!" Jeremy called out. The ram shook violently, its outer hull causing massive amounts of friction with the enemy's melted hull. The gravity locks deactivated, and the marines activated their weapons, ready to begin the fight.

"Boarding complete, we're in the enemy ship. Opening boarding ramp in five, four, three, two, one... Opening."

The boarding ramp of the ram opened, and the marines filed out the ram to secure the area orderly and efficiently.


	5. Battle of Shanxi part 2

"Contacts!" A marine called out, who proceeded to have his combat shield facing them. He then fired his AR-15 Carbine variant, armor-piercing rounds flying off the barrel and hitting Turians. They originally wanted to use mass reactive rounds, but the revelation that element zero was volatile forced them to use the otherwise less powerful round to do the job. The first two dozen rounds made contact and bounced off a few Turian marines' kinetic barriers, then the last 16 rounds did the job as the kinetic barriers overloaded and allowed the rounds straight through the Turian armor.

"Advance, shield wall up front!" Jeremy ordered and almost immediately, a thick wall of vibranium was erected and moved slowly like a turtle, slightly mimicking the strategy of the ancient Roman Legions of old in the form of close quarter combat. The Turians opened fire, confident that their enemy is giving up on the offensive. They were proven wrong. "Shield wall, halt!" Jeremy ordered.

"Stun grenades, out!" He then ordered.

3 stun grenades were thrown out, they detonated and created blinding flashes of light. The Imperials weren't affected as their visors automatically polarized before the stun grenades detonated, the Turians on the other hand, had screams of panic and confusion as the lights temporarily blinded their eyesights. "Engage at will!" Jeremy authorized, and like a tide of death, the marines unleashed their deadly armaments.

AP rounds tore straight through Turian barriers, armor and flesh, their temporarily impaired eyes made them defenseless to their enemy, and thus created no resistance.

Within 5 minutes, they had taken down 300 Turians while losing no one thanks to the narrow corridors and the slabs of combat shields that they've brought with them. "Ammunition count?" The admiral asked while jogging further into the ship. And reports from the numerous squads in the platoon sent their report via vox transmission. The situation was better than he thought, not only did the entire platoon had more than 50 percent of their ammunition left, but they also kept their payload of explosives for the destruction of the flagship safe.

They then stopped at a three-way corridor, "Alright, here's where we'll split up to complete our mission here. Lieutenant Kent, take half of the platoon to set up the C10s at the enemy reactors, set the countdown to 10 minutes. I'll take the rest of us to the bridge, we're gonna capture ourselves a few high ranking personnel if the situation allows so."

"Yes sir," came the cool reply.

The platoon then split up into 2 groups, and began to wreck more havoc across the ship as they moved to carry out their objectives.

* * *

"Admiral, sir! The upstarts have boarded our ship and are approaching the reactor and our position." A Turian marine reported.

"Activate all automated defenses and delay them, we're going to crash this ship into the enemy city and wipe out their capitol." The bridge fell silent by the order given, but it was then replaced with the determination to fulfill their duty, they knew their lives were forfeited the moment the enemy force had boarded, and they complied so that they could take the ones who forced this action with them.

He then tapped into his seat's communicator "Saren, I need you to clear the planet's anti-air defenses for my dreadnought to crash on the planet. These upstarts will fight to the bitter end, so I'll give them a fitting one with a big explosion." without waiting for a reply, he disconnected and stared at the planet, it was beautiful, and he was going to destroy it. "May the spirits forgive me for the atrocity I am about to make." He muttered a prayer.

15 minutes later, the course was set, the engines were ready and the massive Turian ship slowly accelerated towards the planet. "Prepare main guns with antimatter rounds, and fire on these locations." he ordered.

* * *

"Say again Yamato Actual, the enemy flagship is accelerating towards the planet?" Asked a shocked Jeremy while gunning down the last Turian. They had encountered stiff resistance ever since splitting up, he lost 14 marines already from volumes after volumes of fire and he suspected that that number will rise the longer they fight.

The reply was short, but it filled the hearts of every Imperial with pure fear, "Affirmative, the ship is going to crash onto the planet!" He wanted to ask if the Yamato could intercept it in time, but judging from the desperate tone of the Communications Officer, she couldn't.

"Notify Shanxi Command to prep their AAs and speed up the off-world evac," he then turned to his weakened task force. "Marines, triple time to the bridge, this ship is on a collision course with the planet!" He told the group, who then sprinted frantically to the ship's bridge, guns blazing at every direction with Turians. "Lieutenant, how is your side of the mission doing?"

"Not good, we're engaged by heavy automated defense systems and we don't have any anti-machinery equipment."

"Abort current sabotage mission and relocate to bridge at once."

"Sir?"

"This ship is about to crash on the Capitol city, we're gonna capture the commander and bailout before that happens!"

"Roger that sir, moving out."

They turned to a corridor that would be the bridge entrance, and 5 marines were instantly murdered by thousands of bullets, "Enemy auto turrets up ahead!" a marine called out before he too became victim of it, and the group took cover. Jeremy growled in frustration, "damn those sons of bitches, why don't they just surrender?" He then turned to the marines with combat shields.

"You three, up front, absorb as much fire for as as you can while we cook something up." He then turned to tech specialist in the group, "You, prep your grenade launcher for Anti-machinery warfare." The marine nodded, and revealed an ion grenade from his utility belt.

"On my mark!"

"Three..."

"Two..."

"One..."

"Go!"

The three slab-shielded marines sprang forward and formed a small shield wall, and behind them were the other marines. The turrets and the Turians instantly reacted as they poured every bullet they have at the marines "Sir, hurry!" One of the shield bearers yelled into the vox as his shield began to strain under the impossibly quick rate of fire.

"Ion?" Jeremy asked the specialist.

"Ready sir, " he quickly replied.

"Then throw it for Terra's sake!" He snapped.

The marine threw the ion grenade, and five chaotic seconds later, the grenade freed its ionized electrons, disabling the turrets. "Move move move!" Jeremy ordered immediately, the marines rushed to the choke point and entrance of the bridge and secured it. The Turian guards didn't stand a chance without the turrets and they were mercilessly shot.

Jeremy then briefly examined the blast door that lead to the bridge with his suit's scanner. "3 meters thick, standard breach charge won't do."

He turned to the surrounding marines, "Anyone happen to bring a melta charge?" The bloodied admiral asked.

"I do, " a marine said and proceeded to install it to the blast doors.

After a few seconds of arming the fusion charge, the marine stood up and turned to Jeremy, "All set admiral."

"Breaching in 3... 2... 1... Breaching!" The admiral said, and the melta charge detonated, effortlessly melting the blast doors. When they entered and began gunning down the bridge crew, the admiral shook his head in disbelief, the bridge, barring the metallic control panels, looked so... Familiar, as if it was a crude copy of the Yamato's CIC.

He then saw a surviving Turian, the commander if the different markings on his carapace were of any indication, moved to press a button. It had the familiar symbol of a high caliber cannon on it. Then realization and fear hit the Admiral as he instinctively three himself at the limping Turian with every strength his leg possessed.

"No!"

It was too late, five slugs accelerated to Shanxi from the slug throwers at incredibly quick speed as the enraged Admiral pressed the Turian commander down to the ground hard.

They had failed to stop it, _he_ had failed to stop it, and now the stalwart defenders of Shanxi would pay for their failure.

* * *

Albionus fired another plasma bolt at the Turian force, taking out another Turian. They had been holding the main road to the palace since they returned from their mission to gathering scattered units, and fortunately, they were winning the massive engagement. The enemy didn't stand a chance against their mighty arsenal as they retreated from the locked engagement.

He thought they were broken, he thought Shanxi had stood against the horrors of war, and that they had suceeded. He was right in those regards, that was until he received a planet-wide broadcast. " _This is a planet-wide broadcast from Fleet Captain Hannah Shepard. To all Imperial Forces on Shanxi, alien void forces have conducted a planetary bombardment on the Capital City, find shelter and brace for impact at once!"_

"Retreat! Retreat to cover!" He yelled into the vox, but it was too late as he saw a streak of blue meteorite-like object crashing down on Captain Remus' and Tarius' position. Another on Captain Honorius' position, and another on his. The round impacted the ground and exploded wildly, sending the extremely heavy land raiders and tanks flying across the battlement.

Many of the guardsmen who were close to the point of impact were instantly atomised as the multi-megaton blast melted through their shields and armor, then painfully burning through their weaker flesh. The Ultramarines of his company and the Blood Angel Cohort under Jonas had fared better, their better energy shields and power armor taking the brunt of the blast.

Despite that, they were still sent flying across the roads, as did Albionus. He was sent to throne knows where, and through sheer misfortune, a Baneblade super-heavy tank from the 260th Guard Regiment hit him, knocking him hard by the left arm and shattering it. The Captain yelled in extreme agony and was about to go unconscious due to the immense pain, but before he did, he saw two more streaks of blue light crash on the palace,

'Oh no...' Then blackness shrouded his vision and his senses dulled to nothingness.

* * *

The command center was an absolute mess, yet most of the staff and Gordon miraculously survived the bombardment. "Damage report!" He barked from the floor, the words were said with immense effort and when he tried to stand up, he strained. "Throne's grace I barely have the strength to stand." He growled frustratingly. Two Ultramarines, Captain Caladis and Sergeant Tark, rushed over to assist him.

"Sir, Apothecaries are inbound, stay still." Caladis said.

"I said. Damage. Report. Damn you," Gordon demanded again as he slowly stood up, albeit through gritted teeth and immense effort. Caladis could only sigh at the Senior Captain's insistence.

"The Slipspace Bunker Gates underneath the palace has been shut down by the barrage, we still have 100 million people that are not sent to the emergency Slipspace shelters, Lady Marianne is reassuring the citizens here as we speak. Furthermore, the Palace's outer defenses have been crippled, Captain Dracan and Captain Lorchas are rallying what defenders they can. From their reports, we lost more than 70 percent of the guard stationed here and 35 percent Astartes, including Captain Cassian and Hectonis..."

"I see... What of the other Captains? Honorius? Remus? Albionus? What happened to them?"

"Captain Honorius' and Antonio's task force suffered relatively light casualties due to the their area having more shelter then other areas and their units being scattered, approximately 90 percent of the Astartes under their command have survived, support elements from his unit had also emerged relatively unscathed, losing approximately 15 percent combat effectiveness. Captain Remus also suffered similar casualties, but according to his report, Captain Tarius did not make it. As for Captain Albionus' unit..." Caladis voice trailed off, Gordon didn't like it.

"What of it?"

"His unit suffered the worst of all, approximately 80 percent of all his forces in the area under his command are wiped out by the bombardment, including all of his armored and unmanned units. The Captain himself lost an arm and is in an injury induced coma. His temporary second-in-command Centurion Jax is now in a fighting retreat back to here, but with their reduced numbers they won't survive for long." An apothecary arrived to the scene, and helped Gordon steady himself. Gordon nodded to the apothecary in appreciation and turned to a recovered vox operator.

"Have Captain Lorchas and a cohort to cover their retreat, forget company lines or squads, just fill the task force to full strength, attach 15 additional Apothecaries and 2 Dreadnoughts to it. Also I want Remus and Honorius make haste for the Palace soon as they reorganized their forces. The City is all but lost, but the Palace isn't, and won't." He then looked at Caladis, "Help Dracan rally what's left of our defenses, you won't do much here anyways."

"Sir!" They simultaneously replied, and hurried to their given tasks.

He then turned to Tark, who stood still. "Get a kill squad ready, 20 of our best plus a tech Astartes, mixed companies if you have to. You lot got a ship to destroy."

* * *

"Cover fire on the left flank!" Centurion Jax ordered into the vox.

The main force 524th and it's supporting units had been crippled beyond recognition by the throne damned orbital bombardment, with only around a cohort's worth combat-able Astartes and more or less 10,000 guardsmen under Captain Gregory, the highest ranking guard officer alive in the unit, they were over as an effective fighting force. 'Not to mention the fact that there are twice the amount of wounded' He thought.

Despite the crippling losses, the survivors had not been broken, and complied with his orders with top efficiency, pinning the pursuing Turian troops. Jax unclipped his spent magazine, then expertly inserted a fresh one into his bolt carbine. He took aim again, and made a headshot on a Turian Javelin. Afterwards he turned to Centurion Jonas. "Get the wounded out of here now! We'll buy some time."

The Blood Angel Centurion nodded, his hotheadedness gone for the time being. He gathered a few dozen guardsmen and Astartes, and started to herd the wounded away from the battlefield. Jaxs could hear screams of pain from guardsmen and Astartes alike but paid no heed for them, for he and his men had an enemy to delay. "Precision shots only! We're low on rounds so I don't want to waste them."

Then, they started hearing marching, Turian marching, it had become so recognizable that it actually helped act as a early warning measure. A moment later, thousands of Turian troops were seen marching triumphantly, as if they had won the massive urban battle. "Those arrogant sons of bitches..." He growled and gave the order to open fire. The first to fire were Telemechus and Justarius, their plasma guns turning Turan flesh into dust. Then the infantry followed, their precise of bolt blizzard rounds and laser beams cutting the aliens down by the dozens.

As the infantry were being ripped to pieces, a few dozen hover tanks appeared from the enemy lines, they were lining up for a shot. "Venerable Justarius, take down those Armored Vehicles with your fury!" Jax ordered.

The intimidating Dreadnought didn't reply, instead, he fired off a dozen missiles from his shoulder-mounted missile launcher. The missiles danced across the dusty air and impacted the hover tanks, ripping them apart by numerous powerful explosions that would have made an Astartes shiver in fear.

He scanned the field, no enemies left to kill. For the first time in his life as an Astartes, Jax was glad he didn't have to kill anymore. He then turned towards the injured Albionus, and the apothecary attending him. He could see the Captain's arm bleeding profusely with no signs of the healing factor kicking in, "Apothecary Javar, How is the Captain?"

The apothecary shook his head in frustration, "Terrible, I'm afraid. His entire left arm is a mixed pulp of shattered bones and broken meat while his blood vessels there have completely ruptured, blood clotting can't seal the injury. Yes, our healing factor is strong, but not this strong. As such the bleeding won't stop unless we sever the arm and cauterize the wound. If we don't, he will die within the hour to blood loss."

"Do it, his survival takes priority."

"As you command Centurion."

As he turned towards Jonas, who was addressing the Blood Angels who survived the blast. "Centurion Jonas, " he greeted.

The Blood Angel turned and nodded, "Centurion Jax."

"How are the wounded holding up?"

"They're relatively fine if you're discounting the Captain over there, what makes we uneasy is the enemy's continued advance, we won't be able to move the wounded back to the Palace in one piece if the enemy keeps sending troops to kill us."

"That is why we'll move as soon as we set up some more booby traps. We'll take more of them along the way."

As Jonas was about to reply, a massive explosion occurred in front of the makeshift defenses set up by the Ultramarines. Then Jax's vox crackled, "Brother Centurion, we received a report from the scouts that they have 50,000,000 enemy troops on approach towards the palace. They are currently returning here."

A guardsman then called out loud, "Enemy forces on approach, I can see at least 100,000!"

"Tell the scouts to evade them, and get our defenses ready!"

The Astartes and the guardsmen rapidly moved into position, fatigue unable to dissuade them from doing more intensive movement. Within 5 seconds, they were in position. They waited for the enemy to come, and waited again, until they see an armored column numbering in the hundreds. "Fire AT weapons!"

Explosive rockets burst from the Imperial rocket launchers like an arrow fired from a crossbow. They flew to their targets, the sound of their acceleration deafening the surrounding environment like a lion howling as the king of the plains. Then, they reach their targets, explosions rippled across the battered road as the armor of the tanks struggled and failed to protect the tanks from the missiles.

Seeing the armored units in disarray, Jax gave the next order. "Engage infantry!"

Ultramarines and Guardsmen lit up their weapons, and Turian infantry went down like insects being sprayed with bug sprays. The Turians, who anticipated attacks long before they even happened, instantly regrouped and engaged the Ultramarine force, their mass acceleration weaponry providing so much volumes of bullets that the Imperials were forced to retreat.

"Initiate combat protocol Epsilon," Jax ordered while firing off another burst from his bolter.

The guardsmen then began to fall back, followed by the Ultramarines with Telemechus and Justarius providing suppression fire on the way. Jax sighed sadly as knew they won't be able to outrun the Turian troops, they had too many wounded and they were slowing them, not to mention that their combat-able numbers are too few. They are defeated.

Suddenly, Bolter fire came from behind the retreating Imperial troops and Turians were brutally murdered. Jax turned to the direction from which the shots were fired and sighed a relief. "This is Captain Lorchas to the 524th Company, we have come to assist you in your retreat." A voice boomed while hundreds of Ultramarines bearing various company insignias rapidly moved in to assist the battered 524th.

"This is Centurion Jax, temporary commanding officer of the 524th. The 524th and it's accompanying guard regiments has many wounded personnel, it would be nice to have some transportation to get them home in one piece."

"Roger that, we got 50 Land Raiders coming in to pick any wounded, along with 15 Apothecaries and a few dozen Guard paramedics to help them out. They'll be here in approximately 15 minutes, assuming there aren't any enemy interception force to intercept them. In the meantime we'll hold this place," The Captain said.

Turian forces began to multiply in numbers and strength as soon as Lorchas arrived, coming in the form of light hover vehicles and more infantry. They charged in recklessly, undaunted by the dreadful appearance of the Ultramarines.

They were hell bent on the Ultramarines' annihilation.

The enemy closed into the ranks of Imperial troops, and began a bloody brawl. The Centurion then liked up with the Captain. "They seemed upset," Lorchas remarked nonchalantly while firing another burst of bolt rounds at an infantry squad, unceremoniously wiping them out.

"Well, we did kill a lot of them before things went to hell," Jax replied while thrusting his power sword to the Turian, impaling him through the brain. He then pulled the sword out and kicked him out of the way, the dead body thrashing uncontrollably as he did so. "And we're now killing a lot more."

Lorchas grunted in agreement. "Reloading," He said as he unclipped his magazine and began to insert a fresh one. Jax then upholstered his bolt carbine and unleashed a 20 round burst, killing many Turians while causing more to take cover from the firestorm.

Over the battlefield, Dreadnought Telemechus used his massive Power Claws and slaughtered Turian infantry like cattle while using his shoulder-mounted missiles to decimate vehicles. Champion Gramius of the Fifth Cohort used his Double Boltstorm Gauntlets to kill Turians up close and from afar. Using his artificer armor's jump pack system, he danced across the battlefield like a nimble shark - evading fire while dishing immeasurable damage to the enemy.

Jonas and his remaining 400 Blood Angels were doing better than Jax and Lorchas had initially expected. Their fury was strangely in balance with their intelligence and they became brutal, yet at the same time, elegant killing machines, dismembering limbs up close with their Power Glaives while firing their wrist-mounted bolters on targets beyond their glaives with extreme accuracy. The two Ultramarine officers couldn't help but admire the elegance of their fighting style.

Jax then heard a loud, wet crack. Turning to the source of the unpleasant sound, he saw an Ultramarine, brother Cleavis, being cored by a tank round, his shields and armor unable to resist the high-velocity slug. Roaring in fury, Jax unleashed all 20 rounds from his bolt carbine on the tank that killed his Battle-Brother. The tank's barriers and armor plating yielded as the bolt rounds detonated like fireworks, sending shrapnel through the thin armor and to the occupants, practically destroying the vehicle.

He then heard someone shout, "The Land Raiders are here!"

Land Raiders bearing the proud symbol of the Thirteenth rolled in by the dozens, all firing their mighty armaments at the Turian forces. Under the ungodly amount firepower arrayed against them, the Turians wisely chose to retreat, leaving behind the reinforced Imperial forces.

The Land Raiders then came to a full stop as they reached the battlelines, and paramedics and apothecaries disgorged from their cold boxy hulls to assist in transporting the wounded. "Get the wounded on board now!" Lorchas ordered while Jax directed guard duties until the convoy was ready to move.

They had survived the onslaught.

They had lived to fight another day.

* * *

"Hull breach on starboard side! Fires are reported across all decks" An officer reported.

"Damage Control, seal the bulkheads and put those fires out!" Trevor reported.

Battlefleet Yamato had suffered massive casualties, practically 90 percent of the fleet had been wiped out by the endless tide of Turian ships. His ship was on the brink of being crippled, her turrets were gone, most of the broadsides were gone, all of her missile armaments were gone. Even her Wave Motion Gun, the impossibly destructive weapon, is gone.

The battle could still be won, but his ship, including most of her crew, would be long dead before then.

"Sir, Yamato is issuing orders to regroup at Point Epsilon, We are to make our final stand there," A Communications officer reported.

As Trevor was about to reply, the ship was hit with another volley of slugs, shaking her violently.

"Engines 2-6 hit and destroyed! We're as good as dead in the void!" Engines Officer reported.

"Activate Emergency Thrusters to compensate," Trevor ordered.

"Systems are unresponsive, that volley must have extensively damaged the ship's responsive systems."

Another violent shake came. "Enemy boarding teams are boarding our ship from all decks through hull breaches, ship security is holding them back in some areas, but we're loosing more ground than holding them, at this rate, our ship will fall under enemy hands in less than 20 minutes."

" Signal all hands to abandon ship, make due for the planet! Comms, Is communication towards Engine Room still possible?"

"Yes sir, why ask though?"

"Patch me through to the chief," Trevor ordered.

The speakers crackled to life, and the familiar voice of the chief engineer came, "Sir, what can I do for you?" The voice was weak, very weak.

"Initiate Dawn Protocol, authorization code Delta-Able-Whiskey-November." A agonizing silence took over, it was as if an eternity had passed for the Captain and as he was about to call out the chief engineer's name, the speaker crackled again.

"Code confirmed, the ship reactors will detonate in 3 minutes. It's been an honor to serve aboard her sir."

"Likewise, chief. Throne protect us all, C.I.C out." Trevor said, then turned to the communications officer.

"Send a message to Yamato, tell her that the Ranger will not make it to the point, send her my utmost apologies and ask her to send someone to protect the escape pods until they reach the planet surface."

It took the officer a few seconds to do so, but it was done. "Message sent," she reported quietly.

"Good, now everyone to their pods, this is my responsibility and mine alone to bear." Trevor ordered.

No one acknowledged the order. instead, someone sang their naval anthem, much to the Captain's shock.

" _ **O'er the gelid waves of galactic streams, "**_

 _ **"Set course for the fixed star of Centuri."**_

Others began to join in the singing.

 _ **"Our glorious cosmoship crosses o'er the void far,** **Beyond those twinkling stars** **"**_

More voices joined and soon the entire bridge was singing while escape pods from the Ranger are seen accelerating towards Shanxi, in them were the many thousand crew members of the Ranger.

The Captain looked at his crew and bowed his head in sorrow, "I'm sorry this had to happen." He muttered quietly.

He was then padded on the back by his singing XO, who grinned. Returning the grin with a smile, he joined his men in their final choir.

 ** _"Set Sail! We're casting off, anchors aweigh_** ** _Stand on your bearing, steady as she goes"_**

 ** _"Steady as she goes!"_** The navigator repeated.

" _ **Weather your helm towards the stars,**_

 _ **We are Pilots**_

 _ **We are Pilots of the Cosmos"**_

The ship shook violently, making Trevor and some of the crew to fall over their seats. Getting back up almost immediately, they continued singing.

 _ **"** **Oh, now as we sail o'er the Kuiper Belt,**_

 _ **we've left the blue Earth behind us**_

 _ **Far beyond the trails of cosmic wakes,**_

 _ **We can see the event horizon, our heading**_

 _ **Set Sail! We're casting off, anchors aweigh**_

 _ **Stand on your bearing, steady as she goes"**_

 ** _"Steady as she goes!"_** The navigator repeated again.

 _ **"The sea of stars is this ship's destination**_

 _ **We are Pilots**_

 _ **We are Pilots of the Cosmos"**_

As the crew finished the song, the bridge was engulfed in a hail of white hot flames, instantly incinerating Trevor and the others to mere void dust. The Ranger then exploded into many million fragments, her detonation created a bright, new star, destroying dozens of Turian ships in its wake.

On board the bridge each of the surviving vessels of Battlefleet Yamato, even in the heat of battle, they took some time to salute to Captain Trevor and the dozens of selfless crew members of the Ranger out of respect and gratitude.

* * *

Tark looked up at the smoky skies of Shanxi, there was a new star. 'Another star, another loss,' he thought solemnly. He then turned to the single Tech Astartes that joined his kill squad, "Brother Macronis, ETA to the Anti-ship batteries?" They were given the near-suicidal task to destroy the enemy flagship that was on a collision course with the Palace.

It must not come to fruition, so he was sent to make sure it wouldn't.

"5 minutes. By the time we reach the batteries, it'll take me two minutes to recalibrate and fire off the system, that is assuming that the systems were not affected by the planetary bombardment." the Tech Astartes reported.

"Estimation seconded, " Brother Blarius confirmed.

Tark nodded, and ordered his kill squad forward towards their target. His strike force of 20 Battle-Brothers were from 6 different companies, they volunteered in hopes that Shanxi could stand for another day... So that the remaining people can have hope, hope in that they would survive this storm and be saved by the Imperium.

5 minutes the passed and true to the Tech Astartes' estimation, they reached their destination. There were dead Imperial guardsmen everywhere, yet no enemy bodies. It was quiet too, too quiet despite being in one of the most dangerous regions of the entire warzone. It made the sergeant feel uneasy.

"Brother Macronis, begin system calibration immediately, fire at the target vessel as soon as the Admiral is out of it. Brothers, form a defensive perimeter around the battery and be on the lookout, the lack of enemies or their dead makes me feel very uneasy."

"Likewise sir," Brother Anton said, then a rocket came out from a nearby ruined building and howled loudly. It impacted the Ultramarine right on the chest and exploded, the explosive energy indtantly overloaded his shields and ripped him apart. When the explosion and the following smoke subsided, a charred armored arm holding a broken bolt rifle was all that remained of the dead Ultramarine.

Another Ultramarine instantly fired at the source of the rocket and avenged Anton's killer as a body fell limply towards the ground. The very same Ultramarine was then shot at the head, which was fortunately protected by the armor's plasma shield. "To cover!" Tark yelled and erected a mobile Hardlight Barricade. A few gas canisters were then thrown from the Turians' side to the kill squad's side.

They released smoke, thick black smoke. They reduced the Ultramarines' visibility to virtually zero in that direction.

"Damn those metallic aliens, Thermal scans won't work with the sun still up behind us." Brother Blarius cursed.

"Prepare for CQC, the smoke screen was meant to be their visual cover so use our ears instead of our eyes." Tark said.

As soon as he said those words, he opened fire at the smoke with his bolt pistol. The shots found their mark as Tark briefly saw a generous spill of purple blood. What happened later would amaze him forever as Turians in black armor rushed with blades and pistols recklessly, as if they were the Tokubetsu Kōgekitai of Japan from World War Two.

Grunting in amusement at the similarities between the ancient Asian soldiers and these aliens, the sergeant unleashed a hail of precise bolt rounds, followed by the rest of the kill squad. "Brother Macronis, what is the status of the guns?" He asked while blowing the Turian's head to a slag of purple meat with his bolt pistol.

"System error, attempting to compensate... There will be a slightly long delay." He reported calmly.

"Get it done as quick as you can," Tark said while swinging his power sword at a Turian unfortunate enough to be within it's range, cleanly bisecting him. The sergeant then noticed a Turian walking calmly towards him, Brother Blarius was about smash him with his gravity hammer when the Turian was suddenly next to him, unleashing a hail of mass accelerator rounds with his machine pistol onto the Astartes' neck and killing him. His whole body then glowed a dark blue energy and with a telekinetic push, sent Blarius' corpse flying.

It all happened in less than 2 seconds, a time that should be impossible for the xenos.

Tark immediately recognized Blarius' killer as a high-value target and shifted the aim of his bolt pistol towards the Turian soldier, when he got a good lock, he squeezed the trigger.

No explosive sound of a mass reactive round was heard, nor did any rounds ejected from the pistol. Only the clicking sounds of an empty chamber and the trigger could be heard. It was only then he realized from his ammo indicator that his bolt pistol was out of ammunition and he forgot to reload.

Cursing mentally, he tossed it away and charged at the Turian with power sword on one hand, power gladius on the other. The Turian did the same with his silicon blade and 2 experts of war clashed. While the Astartes sergeant had the advantage of better strength and control, he was much slower than the Turian thanks to his more cumbersome armor and almost took a few deadly blows.

It was then, he noticed a ship descending towards the planet in a quick, but uncontrolled manner... It took the sergeant two seconds to realize that it was the enemy flagship that the senior captain talked about. It was also at that moment he received a city-wide broadcast."This is Admiral Jeremy of Battlefleet Yamato, we're out of the Turian Flagship with a HVT, blow that motherfucking bucket of rust to kingdom come!"

"Anytime now, Brother Macronis," he heard no reply, nor did he hear the firing of the batteries. So he turned, and was livid with rage and horror to see that Macronis had died, the recalibration was complete as far as the sergeant could tell from the distance, and the tech-Astartes' hand was only a finger's length towards the firing button before his untimely death. Tark scanned the field and found that he was the only surviving member in the kill squad that was the nearest to the battery, the rest were either dead or too far to activate the battery.

But as he turned, he became distracted and he left an infinitely small opening. An opening long enough for the enhanced Turian to exploit. The blade went in fast, and it punctured the sergeant's shield and armor, destroying a few of his organs in the process. Gritting his teeth in pain and struggling to breath properly, the sergeant punched the Turian by the neck with as much strength as he could muster and broke it, killing him. He then slid the blade away from his wound and ran across the ruined battery emplacements towards the controls, suffering many other injuries from enemy fire in the process.

As he ran, he could feel his enhanced healing factor and implanted organs trying, but failing to repair the damages to his body, he was losing blood, too much blood. Just as he was within 20 meters to the battery controls, a grenade was thrown right in front of him and detonated. Sending the Sergeant flying with him hitting some boxed carrying spare parts for maintenance of the batteries.

Feeling the many injuries across his body taking a toll on his superhuman biology and feeling the lack of strength to movie, the sergeant began to waver. "No... I am an Ultramarine, I do not waver, I do not falter, I DO NOT know the meaning of give up!" Tark yelled to himself, and crawled with all he had towards the platform as more bullets pinged or penetrated his battered armour.

By the time he reached the controls, he was on the brink of death while still being shot by the Turians. His muscles started to feel weak, his mind became blurry, his vision began to blur. But in the end, he cleared his mind for a short time through sheer willpower, that short time was enough for him to push the button. He pushed the button, and then collapsed, his healing factor unable to repair the many damages to his body.

Before his vision went black, he saw the weapon batteries firing beams of blue tachyon particles into the enemy flagship, disintegrating it to its most basic atoms while heating up the surrounding air with intense heat. 'Mission complete,' he thought triumphantly, then closed his eyes as his mind slid into unconsciousness.

* * *

"Spirits curse those upstarts!" Saren bellowed in pure, undiluted rage. They ruined his brother's plan, a plan that he sacrificed his life for to make it a reality. He would avenge his brother, nothing would stop him from doing so. Recomposing himself, he turned towards General Oraka while holding a data-pad on his talons. 'At least he sent me this before he died' Saren thought while approaching the general.

"General, I suggest that we converge all forces in the city, as well as all our remaining units outside the city onto the enemy capitol that is at the center of the city in order to decapitate the enemy command as well as force their surrender."

"I object. Your logic lacks proof. How would you know for certain that the enemy will surrender the moment they lose the Capitol?" The female general retorted calmly.

"They will because of this," He replied while typing a few buttons on the pad, and a thermal image from a bird's eye view appeared in the Command tent's Quantum projector. The image was a concentrated blob of heat signatures, like cattle being herded to one spot.

"Are those..."

"Civilians? Very likely, the enemy forces have shown themselves to be highly decentralized and never fight in overly massive groups unless it's a choke point. The capitol has no choke point, it's a fortress in its own right. So there is absolutely no need for such a massive amount of troops in there where in other areas are in need of them."

"It could be their commander's tactical incompetence..."

"Incompetence? They were beating us like a varren being whipped by its master nonstop until Admiral Arterius bombard their positions, killing off at least 30 percent of the enemy force. You lost entire legions to those scum and they were the best the Hierarchy could ever offer, and you think that this," He pointed at the blob of heat signatures. "Was the result of the enemy commander's incompetence?" He asked incredulously.

"We should cut their heads off, and now is the perfect opportunity, if we have any further delay this day will be their's and if that happens, we'll be forever disgraced and the deaths of our troops will be in vain!"

"I can see what you want, you simply want revenge on the enemy for your brother," She said in realization.

"Of course I do," Saren hissed angrily, "but the mission given by the Primarch takes priority and if the enemy are working so hard to protect their citizens, then that means they'll be demoralized if they found that that they failed to do their duty, then they will probably surrender out of fear that we will commit genocide to those non-combatants."

Oraka stared venomously at Saren, then she sighed warily, "Fine, if taking hostage of these civilians would demoralize the enemy, then I'll take it despite being a dishonorable action. And if this doesn't work, I'll surrender, there is no way I will kill civilians." She then turned towards her XO. "Inform all legions to take control of the enemy capitol's exterior areas, at all cost."

"My thanks, General," Saren simply said while walking away.

"For the sake of the mission, you'd better be right." She muttered before turning back to the coordination of the attack of the enemy stronghold. They had already lost tens of thousands of troops, and she would be damned for eternity by the spirits if this battle was lost or if the upstarts decided to fight to the bitter end.

* * *

Albionus woke up. He groaned, he felt a headache. He found himself without his armor and an arm. Confused, he tried to stand up. An apothecary noticed him and rushed to his side. "Sir, you mustn't move, your condition is less than pleased." An apothecary said while gently pushing him back to his hospital bed.

"What did I miss?" He asked weakly.

"The 524th has suffered crippling losses during the orbital bombardment, around two-third of its number remained, but they are scattered across the city as support elements based on your mission. In addition to that, almost the entire defense fleet is destroyed, they're now regrouping for a final stand." He reported while applying medi-gel on a wounded guardsmen, who had a severed leg.

"Do you have any prosthetics for me to use? I can see that I'm short of an arm" Albionus asked humorlessly.

"No we don't. They were destroyed when the bombardment hit the Palace's replicator chambers and our storage chambers."

"Then I'll fight one-handed," the injured Captain said while beginning to stand up again.

"Captain, I insist that you stay on your bed, dying in battle will do you no good, and will only serve the enemy, especially someone of your rank." The apothecary reasoned.

"If I don't join the fight, my company would be leaderless, they'd be sitting ducks against those birds." Albionus growled out.

"Trust in your men and your colleagues, they are as capable as you are, I saw them in a well organized tactical retreat while fending off countless enemies, as well as escorting wounded personnel twice the number of combat-able troops they had. They did their job well, so trust them that they will distinguish themselves when the enemy is in our doorsteps."

Albionus sighed in resignation, "If you say so Apothecary..."

He then asked for the Apothecary to give him a screen, where he can use it to assist Shanxi Command in coordinating the Palace's defenses. As he was doing so, he noticed that the enemy began abandoning previous holdings and were slowly, but surely advancing on the Palace. He immediately called for the Apothecary, and he rapidly entered.

"What is it Captain?"

"Inform Command, the enemy is converging on the Palace, I'm sending info regarding it to them now," He said while frantically typing in information in the screen before him.

* * *

Captain Caladis, Lorchas and Senior Captain Gordon stood at the entrance of the Planetary Palace, they were planning on the sending Admiral Jeremy's contingent to Remus' position until a guardsman rushed to them. Seeing the distressed face of the guardsmen, Gordon knew it was bad news. The guardsman crisply saluted the trio of Astartes officers. They returned the salute to the smaller soldier.

"What is it guardsman?" Gordon asked.

"Captain Albionus has awoken from his injury-induced coma and volunteered to be the battle coordinator 15 minutes ago," He started. "And approximately 7 minutes ago, he reported that the entirety of the enemy force has just been redirected to our position. He said. Just as the words were digested by the Astartes, the hologram projector buzzed, meaning there was a call.

Accepting it, he was both surprised and relieved to see the battered and tired figures of Captain Remus and Honorius. "Captains." Gordon greeted.

"Sir, the pressure being put on our fronts have just been lessened to a disrupting nuisance, we are now exterminating the remaining enemy forces in our areas as we speak and will join you shortly." Remus said.

"Do so quickly, for the enemy is now converging on our position. Battle coordinators have just discovered that almost the entire enemy force has moved onto the Palace, hence the reason as to why your sides' pressure have become so weak, yet strong enough to be a distraction to delay your redeployment, to give the enemy time to cut off the head of the snake, which is us."

"Shall we have our more mobile elements intercept or harass them?" Honorius asked.

"Yes, I also want Remus to lead a squad of grav-speeders to meet up with Admiral Jeremy's unit near your position. He has a HVT on his hands so bring in extra firepower and transport in case the enemy decides to stumble onto them. Afterwards, regroup with Honorius and begin advancing to the Palace at your discretion. I'm also sending you the coordinates to the Admiral now, Throne protects."

The Earth-born Captain saluted, and dissolved into nothingness, Honorius followed suit and disconnected as well. Gordon then looked at the other two Captains, "Take a few squads and strengthen our defenses at Point 15 and 32, they are undermanned as of now." He then turned to the Palace guards that had been inside the Palace since the battle began. "Get inside and make sure the civilians are safe."

They dutifully saluted and began to do their assigned tasks.

It took the defenders a few long minutes to prepare for their final confrontation. And when they were done, the enemy had arrived. Looking through his inbuilt binoculars, Gordon could only gasped in horror, "Throne's grace." He muttered. There were tens of millions of enemy troops, followed by tens of thousands of gunships and tanks. Gordon deduced that these were the entirety of the available enemy force with the exception of their command unit and those engaged with Remus' and Honorius' mobile forces and reasoned that this would be their final offensive in his mind.

But he knew that it was little comfort, for they were outnumbered by a massive margin. He could only hope that Honorius and Remus could get back here in time. Without hesitating further, he gave the order through the vox. "Open fire."

The siege of the Palace of Shanxi had begun.

* * *

"Open fire."

Every Imperial gun that were in the Palace immediately roared their fury, from simple but powerful boltguns and lasguns, to the astonishingly powerful and destructive Plasma guns. All of them directed at the massive Turian army before the gates of the Palace. Many Turians were blown to bits and pieces, but many more became dust when the sun-hot heat of the Plasma projectiles burned them thoroughly.

The Turians did not flinch or panic, instead the infantry took cover in the massive amounts of rubble their orbital bombardments had created and returned fire with stunning discipline. Gunship engines roared through the air as they flew over Imperial battlements, only to be shot down by the accurate aiming of rockets from the Ultramarines. Turian Tanks fired their cannons as they attempted to break the walls that the Imperial forces used, but they held, and the defenders repaid the tanks with grav-cannons crushing the vehicles.

To Captain Caladis, this was the fiercest opponent he had ever faced since the pirates of New Haven. He was even impressed by their discipline, reminding him of his Legion. Shaking those thoughts aside, he turned to his personal squad of Astartes. "Squad Geralt, we will be meeting up with the 257th Shanxi regiment alongside elements of Ultramarine forces at the far bank of this Palace and support them in their defense. According to CIC, the area is rife with enemy armor, so use your bolters wisely, for we have little ammunition left." He then unsheathed his power sword and pointed to the direction of the enemy.

"Let the Galaxy know that it was this day, that Shanxi withstood the horrors of war; that the Imperium were the ones defending it; and that it was we, warriors of the Ultramarines Legion had a part in this glorious defense. Fight well my brothers, Courage and honor!"

"Courage and honor!" They roared in response.

"Now onwards, to battle in the name of the Emperor."

The small squad of ten Astartes sprinted to their designated position, where hundreds of guardsmen ducked behind cover, firing their lasguns. As the squad arrived, the commanding officer of the unit greeted him. "Sir," He started. "The enemy forces are holding back their strength, they seemed to be probing our defenses if the number of troops they sent are of any indication."

Caladis looked at the exchange of fire between the two sides. He was right, the enemy were small in number compared to their previous attacks, something was amiss. He then turned to the officer and his squad, "Hold position and stay vigilant. There is something strange about their attacks, I will have to counsel with the Senior Captain." As he was about to contact Gordon, a shout interrupted him.

"Sir!" Brother Geros called out while pointing at a direction.

Looking at the pointed direction, Caladis grimaced. Enemy artillery had opend fire. "Everyone, to cover now!" He said loudly. The Astartes ducked in time, but the guardsmen were a second too slow. The walls to their left exploded, sending fragments of enhanced rockcrete and vibranium across the battlement, killing tens of dozens of guardsmen and creating a storm of dust.

Caladis looked around the area, and was angered to see that his side of defenses had collapsed, dead guardsmen were everywhere, almost all heavy weapons emplacement had been destroyed. "This is Captain Caladis of far bank defenses, enemy artillery has bombarded and crippled my defenses, relocating to a more defensible position." Even as he said those words, he could also hear the same from many other Captains. "It would seem that the enemy has completely destroyed our walls." Geralt remarked grimly.

"Yes, they seem to know how to fight wars that requires the application of overwhelming firepower. They're advancing again." The Captain said while pointing at the Turian force, they were comprised of many hover tanks and they were getting closer.

"Orders sir?"

"We stay and kill as many of them as we can."

"Sir?"

"We fall back to another position and the Palace would be at risk. I lied when I said there was another defensible position, there are none." He hissed quietly. He then turned to the guard commander, who miraculously survived the bombardment. "Inform your men to prepare for close combat and have them remain hidden in the rubble. The enemy thinks we're dead and I'd like to keep it that way until they're close."

"As you will it."

"What are you planning sir?" Geralt asked curiously while the guard officer began issuing orders to his regiment.

"Analysis: Enemy bombardment has destroyed our defensive line and took out the majority of our assets while also destroying almost every wall on this side of the Palace. Meaning the destruction of our fortifications here are total, leaving thousands of tonnes of rubble here. The enemy is also advancing towards our position with their entire armored complement.

Theoretical: The enemy thinks we are broken, and that we are as good as finished.

Practical: We show them that we still bite." He turned towards the rubble that had once been mighty walls of the Palace of Shanxi.

"The enemy created this rubble, and they are useful assets. We still put that usefulness in use." He said.

"To use the result of the enemy's bombardment against them..." Geralt muttered in realization.

Caladis grinned, the sergeant shook his head. "But our numbers are few, we may not make it through this."

"Our mission was never one of survival, but of delay and attrition. The defenses here was never meant to hold against this tide of bodies because they weren't designed to. We are here now so that we can buy time, time needed for Remus and Honorius to come to the rescue. Even if it means that we will have to meet our ultimate fates to do so, we must do this." Caladis said firmly.

"I understand Captain, we will stand 'till the end, in the name of Terra and Guilliman."

Nodding his head in approval, the Captain ordered his men into different positions to prepare to engage the enemy.

To the guards' credit, they've integrated themselves with the rubble as soon as the order was given, their quiet breathes being deafened by the thunderous roars of the enemy war machines. The Turians entered the vicinity of the Palace, checking the dead bodies of guardsmen that littered the battlements, and shot them to make sure they were truly dead. The sight made Caladis' blood boil in rage.

"Not yet, not yet..." He muttered into the vox.

The Turian infantry then advanced further, followed by their tanks. It was time, and Caladis shouted out his rage. "Soldiers of the Imperium: We stand for Terra! To battle!" And he charged, his squad closely following him. The charge was so sudden and surprising to the Turians that their reaction speed slowed to a crawl as if they were jammed cogs of the ancient clock Big Ben.

The charge immediately met it's intended effect as dozens of Turians were cut down and many others were stunned. But as they began to recover, guardsmen and Astartes began to die. Amidst the chaotic brawl between human and avian, Caladis contacted his senior Captain. "Senior Captain Gordon, I request further orders for my side of the operation, enemy forces have been delayed but we are at a numerical disadvantage."

"Fall back to the Palace Captain, we make our last stand there."

"Acknowledged." He then cut down a Turian soldier and gunned down a few more. "All units on the far bank, the line is lost! Fall back to the Palace!" As he said those words, he dodged a Turian's blade and had his own impaled through the alien's abdomen, killing the soldier. He watched as a group of Ultramarines and guardsmen attempted to push their way through the brawl while they were bunched together.

They failed, and they were trapped.

"Squad Geralt, to me!" Caladis said as he fired his sidearm at the enemy horde.

His squad instantly complied and joined the firing. The bolters roared as if they were satisfied by the blood they had spilled. Soon the bolters' sounds were outmatched by the screams of death as Turians died from losing limbs or shrapnel. Caladis then charged with sergeant Geralt, both of them hacked their way to the trapped group of warriors with fist and sword.

They reached the group soon, and the trapped warriors began fighting their way out. "Squad Geralt, intensify firepower of my 12 0'clock, 100 meters!" He barked. The Astartes opened fire, the bolt rounds ripping flesh by the dozens, taking down any Turian they came across. The Captain soon felt the pressure on his side decrease as the Turian soldiers engaging him began to lessen.

"Forward! To safety!" He yelled, and his men continued hacking their way out. Caladis then saw two glowing Turinas and ducked as they fired a blast of dark energy at him. The blasts streaked and hit Brother Telius, cracking his armour and shattering his superhuman bones. The Captain then charged at the two Turians while tapping into the vox.

"All units be advised: Enemy forces have psyker-analogues and possess at least the powers of gravitational manipulation capable of eliminating Astartes grade protection. Engage with extreme caution."

He then reached the first Turian psyker, and impaled the alien through the heart. The Captain then twisted the blade and tore the impaled alien's mandibles with his hand, spilling a lot of blood from the Turian. Caladis then pulled the blade out of the Turian and left his body to wither. The other Turian psyker unleashed his powers at the Captain, who narrowly evaded them. The Turian then activated charged at the Captain, hands glowing.

'No silicon blade?' The Captain thought, but charged nonetheless. When they were at an arm's length, they went for their respective strike. The Captain's sword was high above the psyker's head, while the alien fist moved to intercept the sword. The fist then glowed even brighter and with a powerful gravitational interference, shattered the Ultramarine's power sowrd.

'What?!' Thought a shocked Caladis, but quickly recomposed as he dodged more punches from the alien psyker. He attempted to immobilize the Turian by breaking his legs, but as he went for the crippling blow, the Turian punched him hard at his beast plate, reducing his primary heart of pulp, cracking his armor plating and sending him flying.

He crashed on a pair of Turians, the weight of his armor and body combined enough to instantly kill them. He then attempted to stand up, but was too late as the Turian was already in front of him. The Turian was about to make the killing blow when a power axe flew straight for his skull, cleanly bisecting him. Turning to the axe-thrower, it turned out to be Brother Telius, who survived his grievous wounds.

"Captain..." He said weakly while limping towards the Captain.

"My thanks, Telius. Now let us get out of here." Caladis said and half-dragged his injured subordinate to safety, under the escort of the surviving members of Squad Geralt.

* * *

Centurion Jonas took down another tank. This was his 4000th kill, an incredible considering how chaotic the fight is. Never before had he felt the thrill of battle to such a degree, he could see the enemy becoming slower the more he fought, it made him seem impossibly fast. It had dumbfounded and amazed him that until now, the true capabilities of the Astartes were not unleashed.

The thought had distracted him, so he swatted it aside and returned to the battle. He activated his jump pack and soared across the battlefield. His wrist-mounted bolter firing as he did so. He then saw another tank column, and accelerated to it. He crash landed and crushed the vibranium road that he landed, and swept his Glaive Encarmine, the impossibly sharp edge of the blade mercilessly cut through the armor plating of a tank while beheading the Turian driver in it.

He then turned around to fire his boltgun, the rounds pounded rockcrete and vibranium, while blowing enemy flesh to pulps of meat and fragmented bones. He then saw his remaining Blood Angels moving in to assist their centurion, their cohort banner held high. He smiled at the sight, his men, no, his battle brothers' devotion to the Legion was truly astounding.

Flying to his Cohort's side, he voxed. "The enemy is attempting to overrun us, back to back brothers! We are each other's shield!" The Blood Angels did as they were ordered and they soon formed an impenetrable shield wall of crimson red. "For the Emperor! For Sanguinius!" They shouted in unison, and proceeded to cut down more enemies with their power-glaives.

Suddenly, a Turian gunships was made visible to the group, and Jonas grimaced. The gunships were too nimble, their weapons were as devastating as a Predator's anti-infantry arsenal, and they were many. He looked back at the Palace, the stalwart and unyielding Ultramarines and that of the Shanxi guard still kept on fighting, he could see Senior Captain Gordon, who had already lost his helm and an eye, fight back to back with Champion Greavus. He could see Captain Lorchas limping and without an arm, fighting to the death alongside his company at the forefront of the defenses. He even the mighty Telemechus, who still stood, power claws ripping into foes while tank fire scratching his armor.

Their heroism inspired the Blood Angel Centurion, and with a roar of pure rage and renewed vigour, he charged back to the fray, his Blood Angels charging with him. As he was about to jump on a tank, a blue beam to destructive plasma hit the tank in question and rendered it molten slag, turning to the source of the beam, he could not help but thank the Golden Throne for sheer luck.

"This is Captain Remus to the beleaguered defenders of the Palace, reinforcements have arrived!" A voice boomed, and in its wake. Two thousand Ultramarines marched into the battle triumphantly, each of them bearing the golden symbol of the Lightning Eagle and the White Symbol of Ultramar. With boltguns in their hands and finger on their triggers, they opened fire on the surprised Turian forces.

Behind them came in column after column of war robots, tanks and even a score of dreadnoughts advanced, their weapons firing on any enemy vehicle and aircraft they can see. Seeking to regroup with the reinforcements, Jonas turned to his last 300 or so Blood Angels. "Brothers, to me! We shall greet our kinsmen of the Thirteenth, for the Blood and for Sanguinius!"

"For the Blood! For Sanguinius!"

They hacked their way through the Turian ranks, who panicked when they found themselves surrounded by a much stronger force. Within 15 minutes, they were all but annihilated. The bloodied Jonas marched forward, and saluted to the Ultramarines, who responded with their own salute. He could see that Captain Honorius' task force had arrived from another side and had routed the enemies at the Palace.

He then noticed an Ultramarine Captain approach him, and saluted. "Captain Remus, your assistance is much appreciated and welcomed."

The Captain did not reply, instead he gestured for Jonas to follow him, which he did so hesitantly. A moment later, they found themselves at the top of an undamaged spire, where the entire city could be seen. "I wished I could've saved more." The Captain finally said, his tone full of remorsefulness and guilt. "I should have moved here the moment the bombardment subsided, where I can fight with you all."

"You did your best Captain..."

The Captain didn't respond, instead he said something that caught the Blood Angel off guard. "Look at all of this, " He said while gesturing towards the ruined city. There were demolished buildings, burning spires and smoking plazas were seen everywhere, and amongst those were piles of bodies, the survivng Imperial forces were piling the Turian bodies up, some were so high that they almost reached two stories high.

"What do you see?" Remus asked.

"I see victory, " Jonas replied.

"I see destruction and death instead, Centurion." Remus said while turning to the Centurion.

"We were created to fight wars, but we were trained to govern, to guide our Imperium to create an utopia for Humanity." He pointed towards the ruined city, specifically the ruined Palace. "Does this look like guidance to peace?" He asked.

"It is not our fault that this happened, Captain" Jonas said, and then it turned to a growl. "It is the Turians' fault, and they will feel our retribution."

"But it is because of our actions, more than 20 million civilians are dead!"

"What?"

Remus chuckled sadly at the Blood Angel's comfused reaction. "You should have read the initial damage reports from the Palace. One of the slippage transition gates was damaged and went out of control when the bombardment hit the Palace, the tiny but powerful gravitational rift was not enough to destroy the entire Palace but it was enough to collapse the room it was in and killed its occupants. Twenty throne-damned million lives..."

"No..." Jonas said, appalled by what he was hearing from the Ultramarine. Twenty million lives, civilian lives... Lost in one bombardment, it is a horrifying and heartbreaking fact, one that Jonas could not bear to accept even as his heart got hardened by today's battle.

"Not to mention the deaths of almost 40 million guardsmen and tens of thousands of Ultramarines. Even your cohort is on the brink of total annihilation."

"Their deaths will be remembered, their legacies will be carried on by future generations."

"Not until we win this war." Remus said while gripping on Jonas' pauldron. The grip was so strong that the pauldron's metal groaned and Jonas flinched uncomfortably.

"While this may sound a bit extreme, but what I, no. What the Ultramarines will do will forever be remembered and probably scowled at by our people. Because we will unleash the true potential of an Astartes Legion's fighting prowess while showing no mercy to the enemy."

"So I suggest that you be ready for what will happen when the Ultramarines retaliate, for it will not be pretty."

"After what happened, I don't think I need to be part of the Ultramarines Legion to know what horrible fate will descend on the enemy in the upcoming counterattack." Jonas said calmly. Remus grinned at the statement and his grip loosened somewhat.

"Glad that you do." Remus replied and turned to the gravity lift that took them to the tower.

As the gravity lift's door was about to close, the Captain turned to the Blood Angel one more time. "I will tend to the cleansing and prisoner processing operations below. Whether you follow or not is your choice." The door then closed, leaving the Blood Angel Centurion alone. As Jonas looked at the ruined city again, he could not help but ask himself a question whose answer he may not like.

"What was the point of all this bloodshed?"

* * *

"Pride of Luna, destroyed!" the tactical officer shouted desperately as the last heavy cruiser of the fleet was destroyed, her shattered remains floating lifelessly in the void.

"Have Terra's Bane move to Luna's previous position to fill the gap!" Hannah ordered.

The ground battle on Shanxi may had been effectively over, but the void battle above had barely been over. With only most of the carriers and a few dozen dreadnoughts, along with the severely damaged Yamato and 3 more Andromeda classes remaining against another 200,000 Turian ships, the void battle is as good as lost for the Imperial navy.

But they are the Imperial Navy. In the face of defeat, they will not surrender. In the face of death, they will deny it. And as long as they draw breath, they will fight to the bitter end.

"Enemy torpedoes detected in starboard side direction! They're targeting us!" a Sensory officer announced.

"Starboard side Point Defence Guns are to intercept the torpedoes. All forward batteries, target the enemy battle group on our fifty degrees left!"

The remaining Tachyon lance turrets turned, and their barrels started to glow and emitted immense amounts of heat while the massive reactors powering them hummedloudly as tachyon particles gathered energy at an accelerated rate. "Turret energy levels at 60 percent... 80 percent... All forward lance turrets at 100 percent!" the energy distribution officer reported.

"Targets locked?" Hannah asked, to which the Weapons officer nodded in confirmation.

"Tear us a hole!" She said.

300 Tachyon lances streamed from the barrels of the turrets and darted to the targeted Turian ships at faster than light speeds. As they reached their targets, hulls and armor plating instantly melted and entire ships disintegrated, leaving no trace of their existence in the wake of the tachyon beams' dissipation.

"Targets hit and annihilated!" The crew cheered at the successful destruction of the targets, but that soon died down as a Sensory officer turned to the Captain.

"Ma'am, enemy ship is on a collision course from our topside, it's heading for the bridge!" She reported with the slightest hint of desperation and fear.

"Intercept them with our top side point defence weaponries!"

"No time Ma'am!" the Tactical Officer said, "Weapon rotations are a few nanoseconds too slow to intercept the target!"

 _So this is it huh?_ Hannah thought with resignation as the Turian ship accelerated closer to the Yamato. Then suddenly, a slipspace portal opened a few thousand kilometers from the Yamato's Port side and a beam of oddly dark tachyon particles lashed out from it, it cleanly eviscerated the Turian ship from bow to stern and blew it apart into millions of tiny fragments.

The crew was stunned, they survived what was thought to be their certain deaths. Recomposing herself from the shock of surviving, Hannah ordered a report from her paralyzed crew officers, who took a few seconds longer to recover themselves from the same shock of surviving.

"Enemy vessel was destroyed by a dark matter beam, origin unknown but we an confirm that it was from a slipspace portal that had just opened 5,000 kilometers from out port side."

"Ma'am, multiple slipspace entries detected... They are increasing rapidly in the tens of millions... Emperor's grace there are at least 50 million ships transitioning into the system now and that number is not stopping, it is still climbing to crazily high levels!"

Hannah looked at the spectacular scene that was taking the attention of everyone on the bridge, the ships that had just entered the system were of Astartes design, the ships bore the Cobalt Blue livery of the mighty XIII Legion and the Dark Tuetonic theme of the mysterious I Legion. As the crew watched the two massive legion fleets materialise into real space in utter awe, the communications officer received a notification and turned to Hannah.

"Ma'am we have received a request for a system wide broadcast." He said with renewed vigour, "It is from the Maccrage's Honour herself..."

The flagship of the Ultramarines, one of the most powerful ships in existence, second to the Invincible Reason and third to the Imperator Somnium in terms of size, tonnage, and power was about to make a broadcast across Shanxi. To Hannah, it was an undeserving honor given that they were about to lose the battle without the timely arrival of the fleet, but still the Captain had no true and practical reasons to deny it.

"Patch it through to the fleet and the planet surface." Hannah ordered, she still could not believe that help had finally arrived and that Shanxi had stood, bloodied but alive. The bridge's screens flickered to life, showing the youthful and handsome looking Primarch of the XIII in his ornate and massive Armour of Reasoned Defiance and the majestic and kingly figure that was Lion El'Jonson of the Dark Angels, clad in the Armor of Kings. The vox casters then boomed as the demigods spoke.

"This is Primarch Roboute Guilliman of the Ultramarines Legion to the brave and beleaguered defenders of the Shanxi system," Guilliman started in his authoritative, yet gentle tone. "Help has arrived."

"And to the enemies of humanity," This time, it was the Lion who spoke, his voice just as beautiful as Guilliman's, yet far more powerful, for it was thunderous and bore the power of kings, a trait that was only exclusive to the man whose every aspect was a large shadow to the Emperor's might. "Feel the wrath of the Angels of Death."

* * *

Wikipedia

Imperial Palace of Shanxi

Size: 300km by 100km by 500km (without underground chambers)

300km by 500km by 500km (with underground chambers)

The Imperial Palace of Shanxi was a particularly unique construction, as part of an experimental program to mass evacuate personnel to safety via dimensional shelter, which allows linking with any Slipspace Transition Gates.

In addition to the Slipspace Gates and the self-sufficient replicators and food chambers, the Palace is equipped with a wide array of defences that were unfortunately crippled during the bombardment of Shanxi, it has since been repaired and further upgraded to better handle siege battles.

High Captain Gordon, governor of Shanxi and Captain of the 25th Ultramarines Grand Company and later founding Legion Master of the Phantoms of Doom, once remarked that Shanxi would have held indefinitely had the enemy not resorted using antimatter orbital bombardment.

* * *

Wikipedia

Slipspace Transition Gates

A daring, yet successful design. The STG is an advanced, yet antiqued piece of transition technology whose intent is to make use of the Slipspace dimension to transport organic mass, which was deemed impossible due to the massive amounts of radiation, upon the revelation of this the technology was shelved and lived without usage for dozens of centuries.

The problem was soon rectified as genetic modification and enhancements to the human body made humanity resistant to immense amounts of radiation and when the project was revisited, it received wide acceptance across numerous worlds and were integrated into Imperial society.

But the technology proved to be vulnerable to even the slightest signs of damage as evident during the battle of Shanxi, which resulted in the deaths of more than 30 million civilians and military personnel as the gravitational field that stabilized the Slipspace current collapsed and created a small vortex that tore the victims apart.

Designers are currently working hard to improve upon the design to ensure that the incident will never happen again.

* * *

Fucking hell this was the longest chapter ever, and probably the shittier than our Spiritual Liege, seriously I used up all my energy for it and I didn't even bother to double check this.

Anyways, I wanna thank you guys for your patience and hope you enjoy and review this mess!


	6. The Cleansing of Shanxi

**Hello again readers. This chapter maybe a little boring as it will be the introduction of a certain someone that is important to the next few arcs of the story, adding to the fact that I got very tired and depressed recently due to the terrible grades I got in English, motherfucking B for my Exams. This chapter may not be the best I've written.**

 **Anyways, enjoy this shit if you can!**

* * *

"Helm, set a course for Shanxi's thermosphere, prepare to launch all Ultramarines onboard. Vox Officer, have XIII Legion Flotillas one to fifteen do the same. Tactical Officer, relay this to all Chapter Masters: our objectives are to relieve the defenders on the ground and commence a planetary-wide rescue mission for survivors of the fleet battle, how you deploy your units is your choice; and relay this to all remaining Legion assets: finish off what remains of the enemy fleet and allow none to escape." Guilliman ordered.

"Shall I notify the I Legion of our deployment plan?" The Vox Officer asked.

Guilliman nodded, "Do it."

The Maccrage's Honour accelerated towards Shanxi along with the 150,000 capital ships ranging from the large but incredibly agile Invader Class Battle Barges to the massive and incredibly lethal Infernus Class Battleships that made up the core of the fifteen Ultramarine flotillas and their accompanying escort fleet of Strike Cruisers and Escort Frigates. It took Guilliman a few moments to notice that the Dark Angel's Flagship and a few thousand of the rare and nigh-impregnable Indomitus Class Super-Battleships following them.

"My Lord," the Vox Officer started, gaining the attention of the Primarch. "The Invincible Reason is hailing us, what are your orders?"

"Accept it, my brother probably wants some cooperation between our legions."

The Vox Officer then pressed a few buttons on his console, and the hard-light figure of Lion El'Jonson the First materialised in front of the Primarch of the thirteenth. "Brother." The Lion simply started.

"My fleet here will assist in the search for survivors on the planet, also I wish for a private audience with you." Guilliman looked at Marius Gage, Legion Master of the Ultramarines and Guilliman's second-in-command. He simply nodded and pressed a few buttons. The familiar humming of a sound isolation field was heard seconds later. Nodding in gratitude, Guilliman turned towards his brother.

"What is it brother?"

"Upon entry into the system, the sensors of the Invincible Reason detected an unknown signal, but after some quick deciphering and analysing with my Tech-Astartes and the shipboard technicians, we deduce that it is a drastically altered human distress beacon, which is unnatural given that all our equipment, substandard or not, are uniformed."

"The battle could have resulted in these problems, it could have been a group of survivors improvising due to severely damaged equipment." Guilliman pointed out.

"At first, the same thought crossed my mind, that was until we found the origin of the beacon, sending data about it to you now." Guilliman checked the information sent by the Lion, then raised an eyebrow at it.

"It's from underground?"

"Not just underground, but 2,000 kilometres deep underground. That deep is around the stiffer layer of our Throneworld's mantle, but considering that Shanxi is 20 percent smaller than it, this depth is relatively near to the outer core, being only 404 kilometres from it. Whatever is down there is certainly not us given that the deepest underground city in the Imperium is only 1,500 kilometres deep and that Shanxi has no underground city at all, that could only mean one thing..."

"We have unknowns living underground, evading our detection all time." Guilliman concluded grimly.

"Precisely."

"I shall lead the entirety of my Suzerain Invictarii, Evocati and the Prime Chapter down to a site where we can insert our forces underground the moment my ship reaches the thermosphere, I suppose you will do the same thing?" Guilliman asked.

"I will bring my Lion Guard, the Deathwing and my Dreadwing down there, the latter's heavy firepower may help greatly. I assume you will send the coordinates of the site later?"

"Good to know, I shall inform my commanders of this change of plans. And yes, I will share a location with you when we found one." Guilliman said, then disconnected. With a mental command to the AI of the ship, the muting field dissipated and Marius Gage approached the Primarch, his ornate helmet masking his concerned facial expression.

"My Lord?"

"Change of plans, relay this to our accompanying commanders once we reach orbit: The Second to Fifth Chapters will secure the city from further enemy attacks and assist in the relief efforts; the Sixth Chapter shall apprehend or destroy the enemy leadership outside the city, try the former as I need information; the Prime Chapter, the Evocatus and the Suzerain Invictarii will stay on board the Maccrage's Honour on standby; all other accompanying chapters shall continue your search and rescue plan as originally intended."

"As you will it. And if I may ask: why putting our veterans on standby?"

"That is because one: It's overkill. And two: We got ourselves a trip to the underground, so we lot will be preparing for an underground expedition." Guilliman said.

"What is it so important underground that made you withhold our deployment?" Legate Cassandar of the Evocatus asked, who was somewhat disgruntled by the new order.

"I don't know, but I have a hunch that I will not like it regardless of the outcome of the expedition." He then turned to leave the bridge of Maccrage's Honour, his Suzerain Invictarii following him closely behind. The other Chapter Masters on board the Maccrage's Honour then dispersed as well, moving to prepare their respective Chapters for the upcoming operation.

* * *

High Captain Damocles of the Ultramarines 3rd Great Company looked at the data slate given to him, it was a new set of orders sent by his beloved Primarch. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, their deployment was delayed due to an unexpected discovery on the planet and he was now stuck with triple-checking the needed equipment with his Captains, to say he was bored was an understatement.

"High Captain," Captain Kletos of the 31st Company saluted. "We have confirmation from the Chapter Master Primus himself again 45 minutes ago that all Legionaries that will participate the underground expedition shall be equipped with Enhanced Protection-Type Powered Armour, along with an additional 1.5 centimeters of detachable vibranium platings on the front side and flexible nano-vibranium armour on all joints."

"Good job Kletos, but now we will have to further revise with the other High Captains on how not to be dead weight and target practices in an underground tunneled environment like this. Our armours have become 52 percent heavier than it already is, our movements will be very sluggish at this point." Damocles grumbled, to which Kletos grunted in agreement. It has been a well-known fact since the entire Legiones Astartes received additional genetic enhancements and biological modifications, with the exception of those in Shanxi, that their old Powered Armours were no longer fit for their new bodies, and that the newer armours were still not familiarized by the Legionaries, causing some degree of decreased combat effectiveness.

"Not to mention that what we're about to face has a high chance of being some really tough opponents given the fact that they have ability to evade our detection ever since this planet's colonization, our enhanced protection may be our biggest weakness." Kletos added.

"Agreed, petition Lord Guilliman again to give permission for the 3rd Grand Company to make use of..." Damocles' voice trailed off as Captain Damnius of the 36th Company approached them, the man has deep scars everywhere on his face, evidence of his 300 year veterancy as an Ultramarines Captain despite being considered young for a Captain.

He gave a chest salute to the two Captains, "Captains, Lord Guilliman's new orders." He then sent their Primarch's new orders to the two from his data-slate, the two Captains then inspected them carefully. They raised an eyebrow at it as Kletos grinned behind his helmet in satisfaction.

"Is this legit?" Kletos asked.

"It is sir, Legion Master Gage gave me this set of orders himself when we ran into each other at the Grand Armoury." Damnius confirmed.

"Good job Damnius! Kletos, notify all Battleline units to reequip their armours with the Tactical-Type Powered Armour while have all Vanguard units reequip themselves with Mobility-Type Powered Armour. I want them all equipped for mid-ranged and melee combat, we move out in 3 hours!" Kletos saluted and rushed back to the massive formations of Ultramarines that were part of the 3rd.

Damocles looked at Damnius, "Captain Damnius, I want your entire company equipped with Heavy Plasma weaponry and act as Heavy Fire Support when needed, got it?"

"Crystal sir." Damnius then left to tend to his company while Damocles went to the armoury to reequip his loadout to suit his fighting style.

* * *

Saren lamented at the thought of defeat, they lost tens of millions of good soldiers, soldiers that followed his orders even when it meant their deaths. He would avenge them and his brother, it was the least he could do to atone for his mistakes. Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he inspected what remained of his and General Oraka's forces: three dozen marines and less than fifty Turian Blackwatch Commandos.

Suddenly, two what looked like tiny meteorites were seen accelerating onto their position, it took Saren a few seconds to realize that they were drop pods. "Get to cover now!" He yelled, and the Turian troops went for cover. The two pods crashed onto the command tent and the supply crates next to it respectively, creating a massive explosion, but when the explosion subsided, Saren was horrified to see them unscathed.

The pods' ramps opened, and forty black giants clad in powered armour marched out, their massive swords reminding Saren of the Arterius family's family heirloom. "Hostiles detected!" One of them said in a language that he did not understand, and two of his marines were instantly vaporised as Plasma consumed their flesh. The other Turians opened fire but to their shock, a hard barrier materialised out of nowhere and effortlessly stopped the rounds in their tracks.

"Targets acquired, neutralizing!"

The black giants unleashed their armaments, their explosive kinetic weapons splattered Turian gore while their Plasma weaponry showered them with sun-hot heat. Soon only General Oraka, Saren and a few Blackwatch Commandos remained. The black giants paused as the Turian troops stood up from their cover and prepared for a last stand, then one of the giants stood out while the others lowered their weapons.

"I am Sergeant Azium of the Astartes I Legion, surrender to us and you shall be spared. Refuse to cooperate will result in your swift elimination." He said calmly in perfect Turian. The Blackwatch commandos and Oraka looked at each other in shock while Saren merely gritted his teeth in rage, then slowly but surely the group, with the exception of Saren, dropped their weapons and put their hands in the air.

"Turian, drop your weapon now or be eliminated." The dark giant said again, this time more forcefully.

Saren then dropped his weapon and the sergeant marched up close. "Like hell I would surrender to upstarts" He muttered, then lunged himself at the Astartes with omni-blade in hand. The sergeant expertly dodged the strike and with a swift strike with his power sword, cut the vice admiral's arm off. The vice admiral yelled in pain but didn't stop as he went in to kick the Astartes by the left leg. The Astartes merely shrugged as the impact caused the bones of Arterius' right leg to break.

This time, the Turian couldn't stand up anymore as he clutched his bleeding shoulder in pain. "Apothecary Israelius, tend to the wounded officer, I want him stabilized. His information regarding his own species may be vital to our war effort."

"As you command, sergeant." A white giant with a black pauldron then came to administer first aid to Saren as he used his plasma torch to cauterize the bleeding shoulder while inspecting the broken leg. As Oraka watched the scene unfold, she and the others were being slowly herded into a recently landed dropship, it was massive and boxy. "Where are you taking us?" Oraka asked.

"To the prison camp."

* * *

"We got a patient here! Labeled Dark Red!" Someone called out.

Apothecary Ygoris of the 3rd Chapter came to inspect the patient, it was a fellow Ultramarine, and he was a sergeant. "Status on the patient?" He desperately asked. He would be damned if he could not save a fellow battle brother, one that took part in saving Shanxi too.

"Not good at all. Multiple areas have relatively terrible fractured bones, the right abdomen is punctured and his Primary heart is not functioning! His Ossmodula and Larraman Organ are unable to seal them, probably due to the sheer amount of injuries! We found him in critical condition near the weapon batteries that took down the enemy flagship." The man replied.

Ygoris scanned every single part the Ultramarine's body, and as the man said earlier, it was not good at all. "We got punctured organs and fractured bones all across his body, his Larraman Organs got punctured and disabled by shrapnel while the Ossmodula must have been damaged by a kinetic impact, resulting in his inability to regenerate... Take him to surgery ASAP! We'll repair his Larraman Organ so that it can heal the rest of his body." He ordered.

Two Ultramarines from the 3rd Chapter immediately carried the downed Astartes to an empty surgery table while Ygoris brought up his surgical apparatus kit and sanitized themselves. "We will now begin the repair of the patient's Larraman Organ. Scalpel, please." Ygoris ordered, and a sanitized scalpel was handed out to him. Making a clean cut to the Ultramarine's flesh, he inspected the surrounding area for any anomalies.

"Too much bleeding, suction on the bleeding areas and cooler on surrounding blood vessels please." An Ultramarine then inserted a tube and began sucking away the exposed blood while another Ultramarine activated a cooling machine, lowering the overall temperature of the patient and reducing the rate of his blood flow. Satisfied with the current situation, he turned towards one of the Ultramarines.

"Vitals and Body Temperature?"

"Blood pressure is at 83 over 60, pulse is at 69 per minute. Body Temperature is at 30 degrees Celsius."

"Good, now keep it that way, now we will spread open the wound to make repairs easier. Retractor." Ygoris said, one of the Ultramarines then inserted a retractor and began to expand the fresh surgical wound. Flesh began to clear away and the damaged Larraman Organ became more visible to the Apothecary. He then asked for a pair of forceps and began removing any shrapnel found in the organ.

Five minutes later, the Larraman Organ was cleared from all shrapnel and its insides got completely repaired. The Apothecary sighed his exhaustion of such a delicate surgery. "Shrapnel removal complete, beginning the sealing of Larraman Organ's wound. Staplers please." A stapler was handed out to him, and he began stapling the wounds of the Ultramarine on the surgical table. Soon the wound was completely stapled and positioned.

"Activating plasma torch." He announced, and he began torching the stapled wound. The Vibranium staples began melting from the intense heat and soon, it completely melded with the organ's wound. Inspecting the wound, he was glad to see the organ instantly beginning to heal the other parts of the Ultramarine. Turning to the Ultramarines who participated in the surgery, he announced their success.

"Inject a three-day sedative solution and keep him from moving when he wakes, he'll need a long recovery."

"Yes sir."

Ygoris then left the Operating theater, moving to deal with the next patient amongst the hundreds of millions of wounded.

* * *

The Stormbirds touched the ground, and more than a million giants in Powered Armour were disgorged. The entirety of the Ultramarines' Prime Chapter, Evocatus and Invictarus Suzerain were gathered here, along with the Entire Deathwing, Dreadwing and Lion Guard. All of them led by their respective Primarchs. The Primarch of the Thirteenth and his second-in-command approached the First, and the brothers shook hands.

"An honour to fight beside you brother." Guilliman said.

"The honour is all mine." Jonson replied, he then turned towards the cave entrance. "That's the largest we can get? It isn't even wide enough for rhinos to go through." He remarked nonchalantly. Guilliman shook his head in agreement at the statement, "The Maccrage's Honour made thousands of scans before the joint deployment and yielded the same results: This is the largest we could find."

"Then we will have to make due. What do we know regarding the terrain inside?"

"Many hundred tunnels, all of them leads to the same destination." Marius Gage reported.

"Then we shall divide and conquer." Jonson said.

"Agreed. Marius, discuss with Chapter Master Primus Romanius, Legate Cassandar and the Master of the Dark Angels' two formations on how to take all these tunnels and regroup at the destination. Members of the Invictarii and Lion Guard will be sent to each task force, their expertise and experience may be of great assistance for our task forces." Guilliman ordered.

"As you will it my lord!" Gage then jogged away, leaving the two Primarchs alone at the entrance of the cave.

"This is going to cost a lot of lives." Jonson said.

"I know, lets just hope that it was worth the sacrifice."

"Well, I'll go prepare my Lion Guard now, see you on the other side Roboute."

"See you." The Lion then turned and left.

Forty five minutes later, the two Primarchs stood at the forefront of the expedition, their officers right behind them. "All units, move out!"

* * *

Captain Damocles moved cautiously with elements of his entire grand company and twenty Invictarii, the reason for such an erratic deployment was the fact that each company has an abundance of a specific type of weaponry, as such spreading them into mixed units would yield the best tactical availability. As Damocles walked, he contacted the vanguard unit of his task force.

"Squad Jovus, report!"

"Nothing sir, we... Correction, multiple contacts popping out of our sensors... Shit hostile contacts inbound, retreating back to main group!" Sergeant Jovus reported.

Damocles instantly turned to his lieutenant, "Red alert! Tactical Legionaries and Tactical Support Legionaries are to entrench themselves at a defensible position; Assault Legionaries, Evocati and Invictarii shall meet the enemy with their blades! Get to it!" The Legionaries rapidly moved into position, their inhuman reaction and superhuman intelligence allowing them to determine the best positions to engage the enemy.

Soon the Vanguard Astartes reached the task force's position, and behind them were humanoid monstrosities glowing purple, with sharp claws rivaling those of the Space Wolves' Long Fangs. The Astartes immediately opened fire as the Vanguard Astartes went away from their line of fire, bolt rounds blew limbs off while graviton blasts turned them into broken corpses. Soon Damocles led his task force into close combat.

"Melee units: engage! Ranged units and Vanguard units: conduct precision strikes to support melee units!" Damocles then unsheathed his Power Gladius and Power Sword while charging straight into the enemy ranks, the Invictarii following him closely behind. The elite Ultramarines clashed with extreme precision, unlike the Assault Legionaries who stroke with brute force. Damocles impaled one of the creatures in the abdomen with his Power Sword, then slashed its face with his Power Gladius.

To his shock however, the creature didn't have any viable organs, instead cybernetics was all he could see. 'Cybernetics?' Damocles thought curiously before pulling the sword out and decapitating it. The creature died and a generous spill of purple fluid splattered at the High Captain's chest plate. He then fired his wrist-mounted photon beamer at the abominations, creating gapings holes on a lot of them before decapitating another one with his Gladius in an edge out reverse gripped technique.

One of the Invictarii killed another of the creatures, but was then beset upon by more of the creatures, he attempted to change his fighting style during the fight in order to better fight against multiple enemies simultaneously. The Ultramarine failed and Damocles witnessed his death as he was torn limb after limb, his screams echoing the cave along with the beasts'. His misery was finally ended as one of the creatures ripped his head from his mutilated body, the High Captain's blood boiled in rage at the sheer brutality his fellow battle brother had to endure.

"This is taking too long," He growled through the vox. "Melee units, to the flanks! Keep them at the center; Tactical Legionaries, prepare for a full auto volley, fire when ordered to; Tactical Support and Vanguard units shall provide precise fire support, do not get embroiled into melee combat." The Tactical legionaries ceased fire and began reloading their weapons while Tactical Support and Vanguards kept on firing the enemy, plasma bolts and melta beams destroying the aliens by the dozens.

"High Captain Damocles, the firing line is ready!" Came the gruff voice of his lieutenant.

"Legionaries!" He said. "Unleash hell!"

Two hundred and fifty bolters roared as one, and thousands of explosive rounds were instantly spent as they blew the entire horde of abominations into smithereens. Those that survived were quickly put down by the Invictarii and Evocati when the hail of bolt rounds passed. Damocles looked at the aftermath, as far as he could tell more than eighteen Ultramarines had fallen in combat, thirteen Assault Legionaries, five Vanguard Legionaries and two Evocati. Those were not including the vanguards that were killed in the initial attack.

"Sergeant Jovus." He called out and the Vanguard Sergeant jogged towards him, he saluted the Captain. "Sir, you called for me?"

Damocles nodded in confirmation. "Aside from the five casualties of the vanguard, are there any other losses?"

"Yes sir, while we were retreating back here, we lost two more vanguard legionaries. Brother Vandis and Brother Degnar, the former lost both hearts from their claws while the latter had chocked on his own blood after one of them bit through his neck armour and bit off his throat." Damocles was enraged, his brothers never deserved such gruesome deaths.

"Report this to Lord Guilliman. Apothecaries, tend to the wounded and extract the dead's gene-seed. Legionaries, we move out in ten minutes!"

* * *

"Invictarus! Form phalanx!" Legate Aeonid Thiel ordered while Guilliman fired his Storm Bolter at the creatures before them. The enemy had come to greet them and the Ultramarines elite guard had met them with Power Weapons and Storm Shields. The Invictarii formed a massive shield wall, their indomitable discipline only rivaled by the sheer power their weapons possess.

"Phalanx, advance at marching speed!" Guilliman ordered, the Invictarii complied and began their advance. The creatures were unlike the ones most task forces had encountered, which were small, agile and humanoid. These looked like guerrillas clad in armour and acted like one too. Their brute strength and stunning speed were also a disadvantage for Guilliman's force, as the Invictarus' loadout allows for precise and elegant melee styles but they are neither the unrefined but brutal fighting style of the Assault Legionaries, nor do they have the flexibility of the Tactical Legionaries. Guilliman grimaced, his guards' aesthetics and unparalleled close combat prowess became their greatest weakness.

'Theoretical: the enemy's attributes can counter the capabilities of the Invictarus. While victory is possible, there will be a great cost to the Invictarii.

Practical: I shall be the bait to reduce losses to a minimum.'

"Invictarus! Disperse and avoid becoming targets, I shall be the bait for these abominations! Every moment of distraction I make is an opportunity for you to take them down!" Guilliman then charged ahead of the dispersing phalanx, his Hand of Dominion sparkling disruptive energy while the Gladius Incandor shined brightly as psychic flame manifested on its edges.

"My Lord!" Aeonid Thiel shouted and followed his gene-sire. Guilliman ignored him as he knew that Aeonid of all people would be the only Ultramarine that would never listen to a Primarch. Besides, he was very confident in his abilities as Thiel was probably second only to the injured Captain Albionus in terms of combat prowess, the Cream of the Legion if there was ever one such title. Putting those thoughts aside, he slammed the Hand of Dominion into the ground, the sheer shockwave created had temporarily stunned some of the closer beasts while attracting the others.

The ones close to the the Invictarus were instantly swarmed by the Ultramarine guards. The gargantuan beasts were mercilessly hacked to pieces as they tried and failed to tank the many strikes from the Invictarus' Power Axes, which were not only lethal, but also painful. As the beasts' feral screaming died down, Guilliman and Thiel was already amongst the remaining beasts, with skills only comparable to the best warriors of the Imperium, the two superhumans killed one beast with every strike, the strikes perfectly hitting the most vital parts of the beasts, the brain.

5 minutes later, the beasts were all but dead. Guilliman turned towards Thiel, who had a relatively large dent on his pauldron, he had likely tanked a hit from one of the beasts. He then turned towards the Invictarii, he didn't see any dead, but he could see dents across their armour but they were otherwise unhurt. Looking away from the group he contacted Marius.

"Marius? Situation report." He ordered.

There was a reply but it sent chills to Guilliman's spine. "We reached the end of our tunnel, there is an abandoned city surrounded by an unknown energy field, and we also found a... a four-legged metal walker outside the energy field. Emperor's grace it is larger than even an Imperator Titan! It is a fortune that it is inactive." While Guilliman had never met any ground-based vehicle bigger than an Imperator , the implications of this meant that there was a grave threat that even the technologies of the Imperium would struggle to fight.

"What the... Energy spikes just increased significantly... It has gone active!"

"Do not engage until either the dreadwing or the Lion arrives, the power of the First would be much needed."

"It is... it is too late. We..." The signal was either jammed or the Legion Master had been killed, both possibilities unsettled and shocked the Primarch of the XIII.

"Legion Master Gage? MARIUS!"

* * *

"GET TO COVER!" Gage yelled out. The massive titan shifted the aim of its massive beam weapon and fired. The beam instantly vaporized two whole squads of Ultramarines from the 4th Grand Company while sending an incredible heat wave to the rest. The Ultramarines opened fire on the thing, but even the Infantry weapons of the Ultramarines had done nothing but irritate it.

"Librarians, destroy that monstrosity with your gifts! Legionaries, distract the thing with our lives!" Gage yelled.

The five attached Librarians that joined Marius' task force then gathered their psychic might for a powerful strike while the remaining Ultramarines poured everything they had at the massive walker's front armor. The Walker slowly turned its hulking form from the regular Ultramarines and turned to the Librarians as it finished firing another beam that killed another squad of Tactical Legionaries.

As the walker turned towards the vulnerable Librarians, Marius noticed that the machine had to retract a chunk of its frontal armor and remove what he assumed to be a beam port in order to fire its powerful ranged weaponry. It was an opening, one that could win the battle, and Marius decided to exploit it.

"All Squads! Concentrate fire on that beam port!" He ordered. The Ultramarines then fired at the beam port as it retracted its armor and removed the port. It happened as Marius had hoped as the concentrated strike crippled the ranged offensive capability of the metallic walker. The walker groaned as it seemed 'hurt'.

The Librarians by then had finished their psychic binding and unleashed their collective psychic might in a beam of eye-blinding energy. The energy beam melted through the now closed beam port and broke its 'spine'. It then 'roared' in pain and collapsed to the energy field, the upper hull of the walker impacted the energy field and disintegrated much to the Legion Master's surprise.

"All squads, check!" He ordered.

As he read the reports he became slightly distraught and saddened, more than fifty Ultramarine veterans of the five hundred that had been assigned to his task force had already fallen before they reached the underground city, and now they lost another sixty to the powerful weaponry of the walker, and unlike the fifty that died earlier they have no gene-seed to continue their legacy.

"Legion Master, the two Tech-Astartes with us report that the enemy is broadcasting some form of brainwave pattern. They have already jammed it to make sure nothing gets out of this place. What are your orders?" Marius' lieutenant asked from behind, his voice weak and quiet, as if he was as distraught as his superior.

"Activate our anti-electronic warfare modules and seal our armors, the brainwave has a low chance of affecting our own thoughts. As low as it seems, the fact that this thing is larger than an Imperator and that easily killed sixty veterans in the span of five minutes is already enough to tell us that it should not be underestimated." He then turned back towards the metallic corpse.

"Have Squad Hadrian and Squad Solian secure that... thing with our tech-Astartes. Have the rest form a DEFENSIVE perimeter around it to further secure the site in case those cybernetic bastards decide to settle their score with us again by rushing us until they have no more bodies to throw."

The lieutenant saluted. "By your command." The lieutenant then ran passed the Legion Master of the Ultramarines to relay his orders.

'Let us hope the other task forces are in better shape than we are.' He thought grimly before walking towards a tombstone, with some words inscribed upon it. He looked at the words and it took every single piece of his discipline to remain in control of his emotions, for what he was seeing what shouldn't be possible to be seen.

* * *

"Lion Guard, assist the Ultramarines in securing the site. I shall converse with Legion Master Gage." The Lion ordered, just as the Dark Angels dispersed to complete their given tasks, more Ultramarines and Dark Angels arrived from the other tunnels, some almost completely intact while others were a shadow of their former strength. The Lion then noticed Guilliman's force coming out of one of the tunnels, he came to greet him.

"Brother, were these cyber-zombies a problem to you?" Guilliman asked.

"Well, aside from a few scratches I'm still in good shape. What about you?"

"Ran into some brutes, look like guerrillas and fight like them too! Had to use myself as bait to reduce casualties."

"Well, good for you. Now lets go and see your second, it seemed that he dealt with that walker despite taking significant losses."

"Did he? Anyways, lead the way." Guilliman then followed his brother to where Marius was. When Marius saw them coming, he saluted.

"My Lords, here for a situation report? Or for a battle report?"

"The latter please. In fact, I'd like to know how you took out that walker..."

"That walker was strong, but inefficient. It had to shift its armor platings and remove a gun port in order to fire its beam, which gave a significant amount of time for us to cripple it with our firepower. But it was only through the collective psychic might of our Librarians were we able to destroy it. And before it died, it attempted to broadcast some form of brainwave across the catacombs, our tech-Astartes managed to jammed them before the signal could even leave its body. Afterwards we secured the area and I found this." As Gage said the final part of his report he gave the tombstone he found earlier to the Primarchs.

The Primarchs looked at the words inscribed on it, and were equally stunned. "This is Latin...' **Intra hoc crypta, et ultimum telum et spes hominum erit invenit. Cum ea, Hominum et vindictam erit impletum.** ' That meant ' **Enter this vault and the last weapon and hope of humanity shall be found. With it, Humanity's vengeance shall be fulfilled.** '" The Lion carefully read, then he decided to give a try and approach the energy field despite protests from the others.

"Sir the energy field is lethal to any outside objects and any that touches it will be disintegrated. Our theory that it can convert matter to energy upon impact..." Gage's words went unheard by the First as Jonson approached, the energy field suddenly dissipated, allowing the Legionaries to enter the city. The Lion then turned to the Grand Master of Lion Guard and Marius Gage.

"Secure the area, Guilliman and I will explore this city and then call you in when we can ascertain its safety." The Lion ordered, which was responded by a chest salute from the two commanders. The Lion then drew his Lion Sword and entered the city, followed closely behind by Guilliman, who drew his Hand of Dominion and the Gladius Incandor. As the two went passed the city, they noticed the surrounding buildings were too quiet, as if it was a ghost city.

"No life signs detected, not even heat signatures... Just what are these buildings' power source?" Guilliman noted and wondered out aloud.

"Keep an eye out for anything but study them after we secure the area." The Lion told his brother, who scowled at those words.

Soon the two found a floating object and upon a closer view, discovered a functional drone. The drone was different from the ones that they were engaged with earlier and it floated lazily towards the two Primarchs, it then materialized a scroll and there was more Latin on it. "' **Sequi fucus et telum erit invenit'** it means ' **Follow the drone and the weapon shall be found** '"

The drone then started moving while the two Demi-gods followed it, soon they reached what they assumed to be the destination as the drone slowed down. The building before them was different from the other buildings, for its frame was made of rockcrete, and its door was made of wood, making it more like a cabin to the Primarchs. The drone turned to the Primarchs again and materialized another scroll. "' **intra aedificium, quia telum est in ea** '. It means ' **Enter the building, for the weapon is in it** '" The Lion then pushed opened the wooden doors and entered.

When they entered, they saw a frail old man holding a staff similar to the one used by Malcador the Sigilite and he looking at them, the old man bowed politely. "Follow me, young men." He then turned and started moving slowly. The Primarchs hesitantly followed the old man as they walked, the old man stopped at a dark passageway and pressed a button along the walls, then the walls were lit with small psychic flames and made the passageway more visible.

He began walking. "Your presence here means the fulfillment of my final duty, and that I can finally rest knowing that I did not fail the ancients. But I hope that you will remember that the last hope of our species rests on you, your brothers and your father's hands, Primarchs Lion El'Jonson and Roboute Guilliman." The two Primarchs tensed at the call out of their names but the old man raised his left hand.

"I know of it only because I went around your mental defenses." He said defensively. The Primarchs visibly remained stoic, but in truth they were shocked that someone could read their minds like thin paper as it implied that psychic powers can be very elusive and stealthy to even the greatest minds of the Imperium.A few minutes later the group reached a three way corridor, the three doors were made of hyper-dense metal and were closed shut.

"Star Priest Erwen Promthicius, code name: The Envoy of Vengeance." He said out loud.

The three doors then shifted and opened, the old man turned towards the Primarchs. "The way to the left contains every single piece of our technology while our ancient empire was at the zenith of its power; the way to the right contains all the information you need to know about this great threat; and..."He coughed up some blood and was about to collapse to the ground when the Lion caught him in his shoulders.

Tears began shedding from the old man's tired eyes. "The last one... contains... our weapon... Raise him as a... commoner, and he will become our last... hope." The Priest's body then went limp and died, his last words being his last breath. The Lion closed his eyes slowly and delicately as he laid the Priest to rest.

"Requiescant in pace, vetus. Pro dedicatione ad populum tuum erit recordatio per vivere." He said. Guilliman then contacted Marius to bring in some Tech-Astartes and Veterans to secure the area while the Lion entered the last doorway. As he entered, he heard a baby babbling. He peeked into the only room in the doorway and could only stare in utter surprise. He was looking at an infant, a boy. He lifted him up slowly, and inspected him closely.

Upon touching the infant, the Lion could sense the nobility of Sanguinius in him, the magnificence of the Lion himself, the cold and logical thinking of Perturable and a shadow of his father, the Emperor of Mankind himself. In other words, he is the perfect human. "He shall be humanity's next step." The Lion said to himself before bringing the infant out of the room. Guilliman looked at it in surprise and then looked at the Lion.

"An infant? No wonder the priest told us to raise him as a commoner... Who shall we give him to then?"

The Lion smiled at that. "I already have a pair of couples in mind."

* * *

Wikipedia

The Legiones Astartes XIII Special Formation

Invictarus Suzerain

The Invictarus Suzerain is the Honour Guard of Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines himself. Their members, which are in the millions, are not included into the Main Body Legion and they often act as advisors to both the Primarch and other Legion Officers or as representatives for a meeting between high-ranking Legion officers. Their reputation as an elite force was not truly tested until the Cleansing of Shanxi, which showed the Galaxy that they are not a force to be trifled with.

Ultramarine High Captains and beyond must also serve in the Invictarus for at least thirty years, and even then only those that had proven themselves time to time that they were skillful in the fields of governance, combat and leadership were they considered for evaluation, and even then less than one percent of the candidates will be successful in passing the first phase of the rigorous screening process.

In battle, they wield the powerful but extremely hard to master Bellator Rex-pattern Power Axes to not only signify their skills in combat, but also represent their identities as warrior kings of the Imperium, and acts as a reminder that they should put their skills to use for the betterment of Humanity above all else. Hence making them the most popular formations amongst the populace after the angelic warriors of the Blood Angels that formed the Sanguinary Guard, who were considered by most to be the paragon of Humanity's virtue.

* * *

 **Yay! End of Chapter, hope you enjoyed this shit and please review this stuff!**

 **Thanks for reading! Kevin out.**


	7. The First Of The Many

**Welcome to another short and shitty chapter...**

 **First, I'd like to say that I won't be changing the number figures of the story whether you like it or not. If you are unhappy with my decision, then don't read.**

 **Second and finally, enjoy the story if you can and please review**

 **Now... enjoy!**

* * *

"Alpharius! Eldron!" Guilliman greeted the Primarchs of the XX Legion and XXI Legion respectively through the hardlight image. He and the Lion have returned to the Maccrage's Honour and are now in a war room, discussing the retaliation against their enemy.

"Roboute, my brother!" Eldron greeted back enthusiastically while Alpharius remained silent. The two Primarchs, along with Primarch Omegon, they were the heads of Imperial Intelligence due to their skills at infiltration, information collecting and their ability to micro-manage almost everything. It made Guilliman envy them to some degree.

"From the combat computers of our enemies, what do we know of them?" Guilliman asked.

This time, it was Alpharius who spoke, albeit in a slightly arrogant tone. "Our enemy is a collection of primitive space-faring species called the Citadel Council, they mainly use this Element Zero to run their technology, and they run it quite inefficiently as well. They have approximately a hundred thousand colonized planets and a fleet of two hundred million as a peacekeeping fleet, with more than five hundred million ships as their war fleets."

"However, we do not have an accurate estimation of their ground forces but from the analysis of their army's fighting style during Shanxi and the size of their invasion force. I find it highly likely that they have at least ten billion service members in their ground forces. They also use a 'Citadel' as their capitol, and its smaller than a battlecruiser. In other words, they are nowhere near one percent of our full strength. We will send a detailed analysis to your ships the moment the AIs finish their report." Eldron finished.

"Good, I assume you are already attacking the enemy?" Jonson asked, his tone indicating that he was not surprised at the possibility.

"Yes, we've chosen five planets to strike with our Legions. And another forty for the World Eaters, Night Lords, the Blood Angels and the two of your Legions. Those forty planets will lead you directly to their Citadel, they'll certainly shit themselves after seeing Angron descending on them, with Gorechild in hand." Alpharius said while Eldron laughed at that statement.

"I can already imagine Angron dancing happily aboard the Conqueror when he receives the news." Jonson said.

"Back to topic, when do we strike?" Guilliman interrupted.

"The moment my troops are done. I hope by then, your armies are ready for retribution."

"Don't you worry on that one, we will deliver vengeance for Shanxi. By the way, please come aboard the Maccrage's Honour the moment your time schedule allows it, we found something that you and the eggheads would be very interested in studying."

* * *

"Alpha Legionaries! Be prepared for our first true mission!" Operative Alpha Two-two of the Alpha Legion 2241st Cell announced aboard the small but stealthy Void Leopard Class Stealth Runner. They have been assigned by their Primarch to destroy an entire system that is vital to the enemy's war effort against the Imperium.

"Our objective, is an enemy fortress world codenamed X31." Hectis said, and a planet zoomed into view of the Legionaries attending the briefing. "Analysis and theories from stealth probes and 'I.I analysts suggest that this world represents five percent of the enemy's military production capacity, destroying the world would cripple their military for decades to come. And here is how we will destroy this high value target."

"We will work together with the Shadow Hunters 200th Company under Captain Saternus. We will first land on the planet and wreck havoc near it's capitol administrative building, hopefully it will attract the planetary governor and provide us the opportunity to eliminate him." He paused, waiting for his fellow Legionaries to absorb the knowledge he provided.

After half a minute, he decided to continue. "After successfully pissing off and distracting the enemy, the 200th will deploy from their Dimensional Submarines and raid their shipyards, then they'll use the defense platforms of the shipyards to cripple the planet's entirety industry by mass bombardment. After the planet is in ruins, we will unleash a Dimensional Destroyer Bomb recently designed by Lord Perturabo to turn this planet into space dust."

Two-two looked at the attending Legionaries. "Any problems?"

No one but Operative Three-Five raised their hands. "Do we have a specific plan on how to make a distraction?"

"If there is one thing we Humans and those Turians have in common, it's our view on war. And if the Turian architects that created their architecture were true militarist, then they will always have defenses in everything, so we'll exploit those backups and make them weep at the revelation that their attributes were turned against them.." He grinned as he said those words.

"All hands, this is the shipmaster speaking... We have translated into the targeted system and we will reach the target's atmosphere in fifteen minutes. Be prepared for the operation! Over and out."

"You heard the old man, get to it!" The Alpha Legionaries then dispersed to get themselves equipped for the upcoming mission.

* * *

"Three hundred hostile ships detected, they're on a patrolling vector. They don't seem to detect us yet." The Sensors Officer reported.

"Good, steer clear of all hostile shon peak efficiency sir! We're as cold and as black as the void itself." He reported.

"Good, report on anyips and make sure we stay undetected. Chief Engineer, status on the cloak drives and heat converters?" Shipmaster Maddison asked.

"They're operating problems if you find one."

Two-two then entered the bridge, and the Shipmaster saluted. "Shipmaster, status report!"

The Shipmaster stood at ease, and grinned. "We have translated into the system approximately three minutes ago and we are now moving to the target at sub light travelling speed, we'll reach our destination in approximately thirteen minutes. The enemy hasn't detected our arrival, nor did they detect our approach. In other words, we're as good as ghosts."

"Good job, I shall tend to the task force. Don't screw up." Two-two then left the bridge, leaving the shipmaster and the bridge officers alone.

"You don't say..." Maddison muttered.

"Shipmaster, two dozen hostile ships are on an intersection course... they're enemy frigate weight vessels." The Sensors officer reported.

"Helm, set a evasion course and get us to the planet on schedule!" He growled out.

"Roger that, re-inputting course."

The small Stealth Leopard activated its starboard maneuvering thrusters and steered left, she then further accelerated her thrusters and soon she was thousands of kilometers away from the Turian patrol group. "Good job helm, now we're going to..." The bridge deck experienced a huge rumbling, temporarily off-balancing the Shipmaster. Recomposing, he turned to the Tactical Officer.

"Tactical, what the hell happened?"

"Chief Engineer Merrick reports that the temporary increase in engine output had short circuited the heat converter, we became a bright lighthouse in the span of two seconds..." Red alarms then blared crazily as enemy ships fired upon the relatively large human ship. Maddison cursed, that would mean the strike force would be in jeopardy. He would get them to the surface, no matter the cost.

"Bridge to strike force! We ran into some trouble, get to your pods and prep for a drop pod assault!"

"Maddison, I thought I told you not to screw up!" Two-two yelled into the vox.

"Well, blame your Primarch's prototype stealth tech on this! Are your men all in drop pods?"

"Affirmative."

"Good, we're dropping you in five."

"What? We drop in five minutes? I thought we're..." Two-two didn't finish as the drop pods descended into the atmosphere of X31.

"That dumb superhuman, I meant five seconds." Maddison muttered, he then turned to the helm officer. "Get us outta here!" The Void Leopard then turned one hundred eighty degrees and warped out, leaving the rapidly descending Alpha Legionaries to fend for themselves.

* * *

The drop pod slammed into a building, and it's ramps opened. Two-two and twenty other Legionaries fell off the pod and hit the ground. Groaning in pain, Two-two stood up and called for the task force's status.

Lucky for him and the mission, the entire strike force made it in one piece, but were scattered as the result of an emergency launch. "Damn that Maddison, I'm killing him the moment we get back to the ship." He growled.

He then heard a dropship coming. "Get to cover, quick!" He hushed and the Legionaries hid themselves in rubble. The Turian ship touched the ground and more than thirty troopers were disgorged. They methodically moved to the crash site, weapons hot and ready.

"Two-two, I count thirty six targets." Two-one silently reported as the dropship lifted off to go to elsewhere.

"Squad, activate infrared lasers and aim for the heads. Search your targets and fire on my mark. Two-one and I will deal with the stragglers." Two-two then switched on his infrared optics and scanned the area. Infrared lasers were pointing at Turian heads while others were left unattended.

He counted a total of five targets out of their peers' sight. "Two-one, you have the ones on the left, the ones on the right are mine." He then pulled out his Combat Knife and made a silent approach on the first Turian.

When he was right behind the poor soldier, Two-two used his unused left hand to snap the Turian's neck. As the dead Turian touched the ground, water from the ruined building's water supply splattered, alerting the second Turian.

In a lightning-fast movement, he threw his combat knife at the head of the Turian. The tip of the knife dug deep into the Turian's left eye, killing him. Two-two then pulled the bloodied blade from the body and sheathed it while upholstering his infernus pistol. He then moved to a position where two Turians' axis are aligned.

When he was in position, he turned to Two-one, who had already eliminated the Turians on his end and was aiming at one of the Turians. He then aimed his weapon at his two targets.

"Mark!"

He squeezed the trigger. A concentrated beam of yellow-coloured fusion energy emitted from the infernus pistol's barrel. It flew through the air like a spear being thrusted by a soldier and within a second, it melted through the two aligned Turians' heads, leaving them headless.

The other Turians however, didn't react as they didn't hear the beam streaming. But they were soon stealthily murdered as silenced bolt rounds from the rest of the squad went for the heads and popped them out like a kid destroying a pumpkin with a baseball bat.

Two-two then stood up, and walked amongst the dead. He nodded in satisfaction that there weren't any survivors to finish off. "Good job team, gather some explosives from the enemy corpses and prep some booby traps to blow what's left of this building. I'm going to piss them off."

The Alpha Legionary then picked up the communicator from one of the dead Turians, he then vox caster into Turian. "Prepare for your deaths, warriors of the Citadel Council. For Alpharius has come."

He then threw the communicator and crushed it with his feet. "Done?" He asked his men, they nodded in confirmation.

"Good, now let's begin working, regrouping and prepare to watch some fireworks."

* * *

"What do you mean they've eliminated the search party?" Primarch Victus asked while moving a chess piece on the chessboard he was playing on, he was slightly surprised when the upstarts attacked his world, but was enraged when he found that there were only a little more than a hundred of the enemies. To him, it was a sign of the enemy insulting him, and he was hell bent on proving them wrong.

"The search party troopers and guards at Military Munitions Storage Building twelve have been eliminated by a large percentage of the enemy forces. Reports of enemy forces engaging our forces elsewhere in the city have been coming in but according to most reports, MMS-12 has the greatest concentration of hostile troops." His lieutenant reported.

"Then that is where we will strike, it is the place where the enemy command is most likely at. Have my Mobile Command Vehicle advance with the main retaliation force, I shall personally oversee the enemy command structure's total destruction."

"Sir, I would advise against this. Your loss would devastate our forces."

Victus turned to the Turian officer, offended at what his lieutenant had said. "Are you suggesting that I am incapable of leading my troops in combat, _Lieutenant_?" He asked venomously.

The lieutenant shook his head in response. "I am only stating that the risks of you joining the field of battle, sir. As your second-in-command and military advisor, it is my duty to remind you of the Hierarchy's loss if you are killed in action." He calmly replied.

Victus scowled, but nodded. "You have a point there, but you will not change my mind." Victus then dismissed the lieutenant and looked at his monitor, eager to see his troops mercilessly slaughter the enemy.

Fifteen hours later, his command vehicle was at the head of the Turian forces on the bridge leading to MMS-12, Victus looked at the raging battle in his monitor, it would seem that the enemy forces had entrenched themselves in multiple positions, pinning his forces on bridge and forcing a stalemate. He called his lieutenant. "Have dropships send troops to the roof of the building, tell them to secure one-floor after another."

"Yes sir!"

Twenty dropships then hovered up the top of the roof and disgorged their complement of troops. Through the soldiers' integrated combat recorders, he could see them breaching the enemy's makeshift defenses, he grinned at the efficiency of his soldiers. "Yes, destroy them soldiers of Tribune! Breach their defenses, slaughter them! Make them regret!"

But then he noticed that something was wrong, the attack against the enemy was smooth, too smooth, and the enemy were not seen. Its as if the entire building had become a ghost house in an instant. Suddenly he heard an explosion, then another one. Feeling uneasy, he turned to the direction where the objective lied. When he finally saw the source of the explosions, He was horrified to see the building's support beams and pillars exploding and collapsing, the building then started to fall towards his direction, and he was well within the building's range.

He desperately turned to the crew of his command vehicle. "Turn us back, NOW!" Victus bellowed at the Command Vehicle's driver before receiving a voice message from an unknown source. Opening it, he was surprised to hear the next few words.

"This is my checkmate, Primarch Victus of the Turian Hierarchy." A unnaturally grim voice spoke in perfect Turian, then the voice laughed.

it was then, Victus realized he had fallen into his enemy's trap and with rage comparable only to someone whose family was murdered in front of their eyes, he stared at the falling building, the chess piece of the Lord on his talons. "Damn you spirits-cursed upstarts! I refuse to let it end this way!" Those were his last words as the falling building crushed the very vehicle he was on, along with the thousands of other Turian troopers that were on the bridge and in the building.

* * *

Two-two laughed maniacally from afar as the enemy, specifically their leader fell for his trap and got crushed underneath thousands of tons' worth of building materials. Recomposing himself, he put the detonation button he used to trigger the explosives back into his mag lock. "Primarch Victus, your pride fooled you into thinking that we are your prey. Instead, you became _our_ prey." He mused nonchalantly, and looked at his time indicator.

"We sent false reports about MSS-12 to your subordinates using dead Turians' IFF, and as expected they dutifully reported them to you. But never did I think you were foolish enough to believe them to be true; we hacked your own city's defenses against your army and still, you thought that you were fighting a small, weak upstart strike force that could do nothing but piss you off! How ignorant!"

The building's upper remains then began bursting into flames, lighting up that particular street of X31 like a burning splint. "And your greatest and fatal mistake was showing me your location with that big, impractical vehicle of yours. And thanks to your foolishness and pride, you went straight into the grave that we sons of Alpharius dug for you. And now..."

The building's bursting flames became brighter and more intense, like a fire being supplied with more oil as fuel. Two-two grinned madly at the beautiful sight. "We will bury you in it. That is my checkmate, Victus" He said while holding the chess piece of the king.

He then checked his time indicator again and chuckled. "This is goodbye forever now, Primarch Victus, I hope your spirits would protect you even in the face of death." He said sarcastically as the building exploded like an atomic bomb, the timed bombs that were set near the munitions detonated, which turned them into a spectacular explosive charge. Two-two then turned to Two-one as flames erupted in the city.

"Signal the Shadow Hunters' strike force, notify them that Phase One is complete and that Phase Two is a go."

* * *

"Captain! A galactic morse code has been received, it's from the Alpha Legion task force! It reads: Phase one complete, execution of Phase two available." A Shadow Hunter Legionary reported to Captain Saternus.

The Astartes Captain nodded in response. "That's our cue from the spooks then. Shipmaster Jan, surface and wreak havoc on the enemy garrison fleet while we deploy to our objective!" He unplugged his twin Volkite Serpenta from their chargers and holstered them. "When we're deployed, get back into hiding and standby for Phase Three."

"Roger that sir."

The Dimensional Submarine fired twenty torpedoes armed with dimensional warheads, the torpedoes accelerated and hit the designated Turian ships. The warheads detonated, consuming dozens of Turian ships in a ball of dimensional energy. The submarine then exited its sub-dimension and activated its thrusters. It accelerated pass the surprised Turian fleet and launched her boarding pods.

"Legionaries! Prepare for battle!" Captain Saternus called out. The boarding pods slammed into the Orbital Control Center of X31, and dug themselves deep into its structure. The ramps lowered and the two thousand men strong Shadow Hunters' 200th Company disgorged.

The moment the Legionaries stepped out of their pods, they were beset by hundreds of Turian. The Legionaries unleashed their bolters, the prototype Wave Morion rounds greatly increasing the toll of Hierarchy forces. Saternus then stepped out of his pod. Clad in the powerful but flawed prototype Legio-Pattern Tacitcal Dreadnought Armour that was made for the newly upgraded Legionaries, he tanked almost every single attack from the enemy.

"Hardlight shielding operating at optimal efficiency; Micro-star Reactor operating at one hundred percent." He then activated his inbuilt weapons system, the armour's nano-drones materializing a Photon Beam Gun. Checking at the weapon's quality, he made a small smile while firing it, disintegrating them.

"Ranged weapon system, optimal performance; testing reliability." He intensified the beam and melted through the thick hull of the deck he was on. With the hull breached, air was instantly sucked out while the temperature entered sub-zero levels. The Turians without environmental armor quickly died from suffocation and extremely low temperatures while the ones that have them on were quickly killed by accurate bolter fire as the atmosphere of the deck dissipated.

Saternus then looked at the weapon, it was overheating. "Reliability, seventy-five percent due to overheating; activating prototype melee weapon." He then had the nano-bots rearrange into a storm shield while he had the other arm's nano-bots form a stick-like object on his wrist with energy emitters on three sides, the Captain then activated the weapon with a neural command and a blade of Plasma energy was emitted like a sword.

"Plasma saber activation, successful. Magnetic field: stable; beginning weapon test." The Shadow Hunter Officer then stomped forward and reached a doorway. With a kick that would break kulls, he more through the door. Multiple Turians saw him and opened fire, the Tactical Dreadnought Armor had easily tanked them all and soon, he was amongst the crowd.

He thrust his arm forward and stabbed a Turian in the heart, the blade melted through the soldier's armor and carapace with ease as the tip of the blade made contact with the Turian. As the first victim of the weapon died, two more were instantly killed as Saternus swung his arm to the left with stunning speed, the blade decapitated the two soldiers and the Captain watched with amusement as their heads rolled on the ground.

The remaining Turians were then killed as the other Shadow Hunters fired their armaments, destroying the Turian troops. One Legionary came to the Captain. "Captain, this command platform is secure, all hostile forces eliminated with extreme prejudice."

"Have the planet's defense platforms annihilate the enemy fleet while the Alpha Legionaries get up here through the orbital lifts. Afterwards, have the platforms launch a full-scale orbital bombardment on the planet surface and finally at each other. Remember to record all of this!"

Another Legionary then came to his side as the orbital defenses began slaughtering the Turian garrison fleet. "Sir, the Alpha Legionaries are coming up."

"Good, notify the submarine to dock with this piece of junk and get our men aboard her."

"Yes sir." The Shadow Hunter Captain then left as Alpha Legionaries began coming out of the orbital lift and approached Saternus. The lead Alpha Legionary saluted. "Captain Saternus, Operative Two-two of the 2241st. Primary Target has been eliminated and Payload has been installed, we will detonate it the moment we reach the system's edge."

Saternus nodded. "Good job, now lets get to the submarine." The two then walked together as they were the last to enter the Dimensional Submarine.

Fifteen minutes later, they reached the system's edge and Two-two detonated the bomb. At first, nothing seemed to happen. But a few seconds later, a purple ball of energy began to expand from the point of detonation and it kept on expanding, swallowing the entire planet while doing so.

The energy ball kept on expanding and reached the system's star. The interaction between the two instantly destabilized the sun and forced it into the supernova stage. The resulting explosion destroyed the entire star system and further overloaded the Mass Relay that was anchored in the system. The crew of the submarine watched the sight in utter awe as they began their ship's Warp jump.

But before they jumped, the supernova stage star suddenly turned into a black hole as if the bomb and the destroyed Mass Relay had greatly accelerated the decaying rate of the star. The crew could only watch as the system was reduced to nothing and then, they jumped.

* * *

"What? We lost contact with Tribune?" Sparatus asked Primarch Fedorian.

"Yes, we lost contact with them approximately thirty Palaven hours ago after they reported enemy presence, and we still have yet to confirm their situation as we lost contact with every probe we sent through the relay, but as far as we can confirm, the probes are not yet destroyed."

"Then send a fleet to the system, it could be that their comm buoys were damaged or malfunctioned." Sparatus said.

"We already did, the 156th War Fleet, which was stationed at Vakaris, has been sent to ascertain the fates of Primarch Victus and Tribune." Fedorian said, but Sparatus wasn't listening. Instead he was looking at the final reports from Admiral Arterius before the invasion fleet attacked the upstart race's homeworld. Fedorian looked at it too and was about to speak up when Sparatus spoke first.

"How can we stop them?" Sparatus asked, his voice low and full of despair.

"Through the blood and sacrifice of our soldiers, as our forebears did to each other during the Unification War." Fedorian said quietly.

Sparatus chuckled sadly at that. "We all know that it is a false hope, this... This is easier said than done" He then drank up his entire bottle of 400 year old Turian wine, tears dripping from his face and wiping off the paint of his clan tattoos as he drank.

* * *

Aboard the Alpha Legion flagship _Alpha_ , which had translated into Shanxi with every other Legion FLeet and a few hundred other Imperial Fleets, Alpharius was about to board into his personal Thunderhawk with his guards as an Alpha Legionary rushed to the Primarch. "Operation First Strike completed. Enemy fleet from hostile world D12 has departed." The Alpha Legionary reported to Alpharius, who nodded in response.

"Good. Contact the SPARTANS, commence Operation Second strike." The thunderhawk's ramp then closed and the ship left the hanger bays of the flagship, it's destination being the Maccrage's Honour. As the thunderhawk accelerated towards the Ultramarines Flagship, two-hundred thousand ships of gold translated into the system. Alpharius raised an eyebrow at the sight, the ships looked familiar but distant.

"Alexandros Class Superdreadnoughts? I thought they are only available in the Le..." The Alpha Legionary saying it didn't finish his thoughts as a gigantic ship of gold whose length dwarfed even the planet-sized Phalanx translated into the system. It's hull blistering with rare and powerful weapons not even the Invincible Reason has and its prow proudly displaying the Double-headed Aquila, a symbol not found outside the _Imperator Sociis_ , the Emperor's Companions.

Alpharius chuckled. "Ah I see... So he finally decides to get up for a stretch."

The Legio Custodes have arrived, and at their forefront, the Humana Somnium. The Emperor has arrived.

* * *

Admiral Victus, son of Primarch Victus and commander of the 156th War Fleet looked at the Mass Relay to Tribune aboard the Shield of the Primarchs. "Status of the fleet?"

"Ready, sir."

"Good, then let us begin! All ships, advance at travelling speed, close formation." The Turian armada advanced as one, ship after ship forming a void phalanx. The Turian fleet then entered the vicinity of relay and in an instant, entered lightspeed. To Marus, it was a good sign since the operation was still smooth and undisrupted.

"Status on the vanguard?" He demanded.

"No signal from them sir, it could be that the buoy really was damaged." An officer reported.

The officer was soon proved wrong, however as the fleet exited lightspeed. The ship rumbled greatly as it tried to steady itself. Looking at the bridge's observation section, he was horrified to see a black hole in the Tribune star's stead. "Turn us back, sailor! We have to report this back to the Hierarchy!" The ship then rumbled another time as a frigate slammed into it's port side, destroying the smaller ship.

"We can't sir! The gravitational turbulence has us... It has the entire fleet!" The officer sounded scared, and Victus didn't blame him since he too, was scared. He could see his entire fleet in chaos, ship after ship impacted with each other as they lose control to the gravitational pull of the black hole. Many small explosions were seen as the flagship of the 156th slowly descended to her death.

'Just like that? I'm dying just like that?' Victus thought before something hit his ship and made him fall. Getting up, he turned to the tactical officer.

"What has happened?"

"We have made contact with Heavy Dreadnought Spear of the Primarchs!" He reported.

"Sir, Spear of the Primarchs is hailing us!" Another officer reported. Accepting the hail, Victus was surprised to see a young bloodied Captain Veridius, who had a deep gash on his forehead as a result of an impact to his head.

Veridius didn't waste time for any formalities. "Sir, the Spear of the Primarchs shall push you out of the range of the turbulence!"

"Veridius..." Victus was cut off as Veridius put up his hand.

"You need not say more Admiral. No one would have predicted this." The Spear continued pushing the flagship of the 156th with all her power while others ships began being shredded to millions of pieces as the gravitational turbulence ripped them apart. The engines of the Spear then stopped as the energy output had overloaded the core of the ship. Veridius turned to his commander one last time.

"Victus, show the Hierarchy what happened. Tell them to prepare the enemy and avenge us! For the glory of..." Veridius never finished his last words as his ship's core exploded, destroying the ship but sparing the crew from the fate of being ripped into pieces. Victus gripped metal armchair of his seat with such anger and sadness that it radiated across the bridge crew.

"Get us out of here. Full speed." The crew complied, determined not to waste the chance the Spear gave them. The flagship of the 156th accelerated to the system's edge, where the ship could finally stay out of the black hole's range.

"So, the relay is destroyed... That means we only have one way to go back home." Victus turned to the navigator of the ship.

"Nav, how far from the closest colonized system are we at?"

"2000 light years..."

"Order all crew members to enter cryo, have engineers to conduct emergency repairs on the ship and make sure to conserve rations. The Spear gave us a second chance, and we will not waste it!" Victus then turned to the Navigator again.

"How is the core's condition?"

"Relatively stable, we might get back to Council Space in two years given that our drives can only last two days per jump, each jump only allows for twenty four light years and requires a three day cool down, but we can travel at sublight speeds during that period." He reported while already plotting a course to the nearest Council colony.

"Good, then I'll leave you to it." Victus then left the bridge and headed straight for his quarters, ignoring every crew member he passed by.

Once the closed the doors behind him, he burst into tears while lying on his bunk. "I'm sorry..."


	8. Chapter 8 The Last Chapter

**Hello everyone, I have decided to abandon this story with this remade chapter, I feel like the plot is fucked up, hell Everything is fucked up all because I'm a terrible writer who shouldn't go for a story this difficult to write.**

 **But I'm now working on a Mass effect fic with elements of Gears of War in it, I'll will release it within the week if the app is working well enough to allow me to send the draft to beta readers.**

 **Once again, sorry for this and please enjoy the chapter**

* * *

Councillor Sparatus reached his office entrance, as he entered the room he saw Councillor Tevos and Valern. Judging that they had somehow found about about the tragic Relay Incident and their ongoing war with the alien upstarts, he cautiously approached the two councillors. "Councillors! What a surprise... To what do I owe to your presence?" He asked.

Valern didn't reply but Tevos glared at him like a varren hungry to kill. "I believe you know why we are here." She said angrily.

Sparatus blinked his eyes. "I do not understand..." Sparatus said while clenching his fists behind his back, he was getting nervous.

"Relay 314, what happened there?" Tevos pressed on. That was it, they knew about it and any more attempts to hide about these aliens would be futile.

Sparatus sighed as he sat on his couch. "Approximately a month ago, we made contact with a new species. They were caught activating the dormant 314 Relay and Admiral Arterius, commanding officer of the peacekeeping fleet that had found them, ordered an attack on them." Tevos was about to speak out her thoughts when Sparatus raised a talon to silence her.

"What he didn't expect however, is that the enemy was no mere upstart race, but a race that has mastered technologies at least many millennia ahead of us." He lowered his head in shame and anger. "The entire fleet, including the flagship of the fleet: a state of the art superdreadnought, was destroyed, only a handful of ships made it out battered and even then more then ninety percent of them were damaged beyond repair and had to be cannibalized for emergency repairs on the other ships. As for the enemy, they lost no more than ten ships."

Tevos and Valern were both furious and fearful, their military arm had just declared war on an enemy far more powerful than even the Rachni and they did it without their knowledge or approval. "Then why didn't you send a peace envoy to solve this issue or report this to the Council? We could have resolved this peacefully." Valern asked, who had calmed down a little from the Turians' stupidity.

Sparatus sighed. "The Primarch's son was serving in the fleet and he was amongst the millions of dead soldiers. The Primarch was enraged and saddened by his death and his anger and grief had blinded his judgement." He looked at Valern, his eyes blank and horrifically emotionless. "He ordered an invasion on what Hierarchy assumed to be their homeworld with one-fifth of the Turian war fleets under Arterius' command." The Asari and Slarian Councillors stood in silence, staring at Sparatus until Tevos sighed.

"Then what is the status of the invasion fleet?" Tevos asked.

This time, it was Valern who spoke up. "I can answer this for him." He then activated his omni-tool and sent some digital documents to the other two. "STG ships had followed Admiral Arterius' armada into the system, and had recorded the space battle that had been waged in the new contacts' home system." He then played the file and the three Councillors watched as the Turian armada got ripped into pieces while the far more outnumbered upstart fleet kept on losing ground to the Turians indomitable advance.

They saw Arterius' ship attempting to crash on the planet after bombarding it with dreadnought-grade weaponry; millions of ships destroyed by the enemy's powerful directed energy weapons; their ships equipped with protection rivaled only by the ancient and sacred Mass Relays. The video finally ended when they saw new ships emerging from what they thought was a random wormhole and the ships annihilated what was left of the Turian fleet, two of the ships were even a hundred kilometers long.

"Spirits..."

"That is not all." Valern said while typing into his omni-tool. A new video started, this time it was the sight of hundreds of billions of ships, if not trillions. They also saw a few hundred what they assumed to be mobile interstellar fortresses that were as large as a moon and hundreds of millions of ships of different designs. Overall, it was a majestic sight and Tevos gasped at it in fear. "Goddess... We're not fighting a single space faring species, we're fighting a galactic coalition!"

Sparatus' talons were trembling, but he stood completely still in utter silence when a few hundred million more ships emerged from the wormholes. They were ships of gold, the weapons on the other ships looked like infants compared to those ships and they were admittedly beautiful in a way. His legs finally gave up and he lost his strength to stand when a ship that is longer than even the fortresses emerged, it's weapons looked magnificent and powerful. There were even cities on the ship too, startling the other councilors.

The video ended and Valern looked at his fellow councilors, his expression noticeably grim even by Salarian standards. "Do you now know what we are facing, my fellow Councillors?" He asked while secretly hoping that his colleagues' ego and superiority complex wouldn't affect their logic in thinking. Fortunately for him, Tevos' response aligned with his thoughts.

She nodded. "The Turians have just picked a fight we can't possibly win while also committing one of the greatest crimes in galactic history." Sparatus could only hung his mouth in utter silence before looking at the Councillors.

"The Turian Hierarchy will not be a part of Treaty of Farixen until this war is over." He simply said. Afterwards, he gestured his fellow Councillors to leave him and prepared for the greatest Hierarchy military mobilization since the Krogan Rebellions. They were going for war, a war that they would fight till the bitter end in order to survive.

* * *

Rear Admiral Vakarius of the Turian Hierarchy looked at his family photo, he was supposed to be on shore leave after defeating a fleet of pirates hired by the spirits-cursed Batarian Hegemony. Yet now, he was aboard his ship, the _Safekeeper_ , and was at the forefront of more than three hundred Turian ships that formed the reconnaissance fleet that would report on any suspicious activity.

He sighed, whatever the Hierarchy had done, it could not be good. Suddenly, alarms blared as hundreds, if not thousands of wormholes appeared in front of them. "Report!" He barked from his command chair. The bridge crew scrambled themselves to get a hold on what they were facing until the bridge's tactical officer turned to him.

"Rear Admiral, wormhole signatures match those from the enemy's FTL. Its the unknowns." He reported shakily and Vakarius couldn't blame him, they did lose a quarter of their navy to a defence fleet that was a hundred times smaller in numbers after all. But he had to do something, this was the Magnius system, the system in which a full fifteen percent of the Hierarchy's military production capacity lied and the home of almost a hundred billion civilians.

"Send a message to Admiral Markus, inform him that the unknowns have entered the system and keep sending him data regarding the enemy's composition in a thirty second interval! Also, set up a fleet wide broadcast." He then took a deep breath, for what he would say in the next few sentence may be hated by half of the navy for eternity.

"All ships, this is Rear Admiral Vakarius speaking. The enemy is at our gates! They obviously outnumbered us by a large margin and had caught the rest of our fleets by surprise. If we turn back, we may very well be shot down well before we could regroup with Admiral Markus; and if we turn tail and leave this system, we would be conducting treason as we left the lives of more than a hundred billion Turian citizens to the mercy of the enemy. In other words, we are doomed." Silence reigned for a few agonizing seconds and the Fleet officer continued.

"To buy time for the fleet to mount a defense and give time for a system wide evacuation, I hereby order all ships in this fleet to engage the enemy and hold for as long as you can. We will certainly die, and you may all hate me for this, but we would be giving a chance for the rest of the fleet and the entire system to prepare themselves. And I dare say that our lives are space dust compared to theirs."

He then looked at every Turian on the bridge, they were in complete silence and were staring at the Admiral. "So we shall fight to the bitter end. For the Turian Hierarchy and may the spirits guide us through the coming darkness." He then disconnected and turned to the bridge crew. Their determined faces already showing their stance on the matter.

"Navigator, set a course straight into the enemy fleet, all ahead full. Power director, I want full power on engines and weapons. Disengage all safeties on nuclear weapons and torpedo tubes, load our guns with antimatter rounds and target the closest enemy ship!" The _Safekeeper_ then accelerated towards the enemy fleet, heat dispersing from her cooling vents as she sped up.

The other Turian ships then followed suite as they too charged at the enemy fleet. The alien fleet aligned themselves so that their broadsides could face Vakarius' fleet as they reached a distance of five hundred thousand kilometers, the Turian then saw their guns glowing hot, deadly energy as they prepared to fire. "All ships engage FTL drives and jump towards the enemy ships by an approximate distance of two hundred kilometers on my mark!"

Even though he didn't physically hear it, he could mentally hear the eezo drives powering up the FTL engines, the drives were operating well above recommended parameters and Vakarius knew that they would detonate sooner or later, and he had a plan to use it to make significant damage to the enemy. The alien ships fired, their blue, lethal beams cutting their ways through the cold unforgiving space at unimaginable speeds.

As the beams were in three seconds' reach of Vakarius' ship, Vakarius braced. "Mark!" The _Safekeeper_ and the other Turian ships immediately accelerated to light speed and dropped back to sublight speeds when they reached dangerously close to the enemy fleet. Making a quick count, he discovered to his dismay that at least twenty of his ships didn't jump in time and were consumed by blue beams of death.

He then stood straight as he gave his next order. "All ships, fire everything we have on the enemy fleet!" The Turian fleet instantly lit up the space around them as dozens of nuclear missiles, eezo torpedoes and mass accelerator rounds were simultaneously unleashed upon the enemy fleet. Due to the sudden and well-timed maneuver by Vakarius' fleet, the aliens couldn't respond quick enough to raise their shields and many were heavily damaged or even outright destroyed by the initial surprise attack, the _Safekeeper_ scored a fine kill as she focused all her armaments on the starboard beam of a single five kilometer ship that failed to react quick enough to the suddenness of Vakarius' maneuver. The long, boxy ship was ripped in half by the strike and it became a lifeless, drifting hulk of metal.

Despite the significant damage done to the enemy ships, many had lived.

And they bit back hard like an angry varren.

The aliens unleashed their close-range armaments, the dark, lifeless space lit up even more as hundreds of thousands of missiles and energy projectiles sped from their point of origin and impacted deck after deck of Turian ships, destroying them in a magnificent hailstorm of explosive fire and drifting debris that were once chunks of the proud Turian ships.

Through sheer misfortune, the _Safekeeper_ was hit in her stern by a stray missile while conducting evasive maneuvers. The ship drifted helplessly in front of a one hundred and twenty kilometer long enemy ship and everyone aboard her were forced to watch painfully as the entire fleet got ripped to shreds, Vakarius was particularly remorseful at the horrifying sight as he was the one that ordered such a suicidal attack and was the one that had the 'privilege' to watch them all die.

He then noticed that the massive enemy ship in front of them was accelerating forward, seemingly not to have noticed that Vakarius' ship had survived, and the Admiral had used it to his advantage. "Disengage all safety protocols and detonate the eezo core, we're going to die and bring this big ugly chunk of metal with us!"

He then lowered his head after giving the order. 'Let us hope the eezo core can turn this ship's mass against itself.' He thought.

The bridge crew complied and went to complete their final duty as Vakarius looked at his family photo one last time, he then stared at the monitor, where the counter for the detonation was present. "Ten, nine, eight, seven..." The shipboard VI announced. Vakarius stood still, everyone thought he was thinking of all the memories and regrets he had in his life while he was only thinking one thing.

'Please let this be worth... Please let this be worth it...' But as the countdown reached the last two seconds, Vakarius knew it wouldn't be worth it.

* * *

The Quantum Shields of the _Beta_ violently interacted with the detonated element zero core of the enemy sub-flagship and shook the ship violently. To some of the crew, this was a worrying and even horrifying sight, but to Primarch Omegon this was merely a chance to study new knowledge. "Construct, take note of the Turians' main source of energy's properties and compile a report, I want it sent to my quarters when I return there." He ordered the ship's AI, who complied and diverted a subroutine to deal with it.

He then turned to the bridge crew. "I want all ships to advance in trident formation at fifty percent light speed, we shall take our time in destroying the enemy. Have Carriers launch fighter squadrons to patrol the surrounding area within one million kilometers!" The crew complied, and the fleet of five thousand starships from multiple legions slowly pushed closer towards the enemy planet. Many were survivors from Shanxi, and they were all thirsting for battle.

A few hours had past peacefully, and Omegon was seated on his command throne, watching the planet they were heading for. Just as Omegon began seeing what he thought to be chunks of drifting metal, one of the bridge officers then turned to the Primarch. "Lord Omegon, the enemy main fleet is approaching in a battle formation! Sensors also read thousands of unarmed vessels leaving the planet, they're evacuating!"

"Have the ships under Rear Admiral Hudson disable the evacuating ships and prepare the rest of the fleet for battle!" He ordered. As the crew carried out their orders, the alarms of the ship blared loudly, signaling the crew to their battle stations. Freshly refueled and are supplied fighters, along with prototype transferable fighters, we're launched from their respective ships and grouped up in a textbook Wedge formation right in front of the fleet.

Omegon examined the tactical display and began issuing his first orders. "Ships under Rear Admiral Ford and Rear Admiral Grant will form the front of the fleet and assume Anti-ship formation! Have frigate flotillas under Commander Richardson, Commander Morris and Commander Powell assume Anti-air formation and cover the front ships!"

As the ships began moving into their ordered formation, Omegon issued his second set of orders. "Ships under Vice-Admiral Stanford shall press the enemy flanks on our left flank while Vice Admiral McCain will press the enemy from our right! Fighter squadrons shall engage the enemy the moment they have the chance!"

"I want the rest of our ships placed three hundred thousand kilometers behind the front ships and hammer the enemy with our long-range armaments, assume anti-air formation in case some fighter manage to sneak up on us, over and out!"

* * *

Centurion Jonas was impressed, being in the cockpit of the newest and most promising fighter design in Imperial history meant that he was the first to test out the true potential of the Model-01 Valkyrie-Class Variable Fighter on one of his most hated enemies. 'Look who is copying from the Twentieth Century now' He thought sarcastically before tapping into the vox.

"Alright, Greenhorns! We got orders from the flagship to reap a toll on the enemy, engage in wedge formation and follow me!" He then accelerated his craft and armed his missile pods. As Turian fighters began popping into existence on his sensors, he pulled a switch his main thrusters transformed into a pair of mechanical legs and rotated them so that the thrusters would be facing the opposite direction.

"All units, break formation! Engage in individual combat as you deem appropriate." Jonas ordered.

The strike crafts broke formation and engaged in their own dogfights. Jonas' craft decelerated to make a full stop and disengaged the safeties on his missile pods. He spent two seconds in his tactical cogitators searching for targets for his missiles. Once done, he squeezed the missile trigger.

Hundreds of missiles flew from their pods, they reached out to their targets and destroyed most of them. Then, one of the enemy fighters caught his attention: it expertly evaded all his missiles and made a hard one hundred eighty degree turn with its maneuvering thrusters, it then fired twenty missiles at him.

Seeing the approaching whirlwind of death, Jonas transformed back into his fighter mode and accelerated towards the enemy fighter while firing his gun pod at the missiles. He shot down most of them while narrowly and expertly avoiding the remaining ones. The enemy ace then accelerated towards him too, and they passed each other.

During that single microsecond, Jonas took a good look at the enemy craft. It was in a way, different from the other ones he had killed and it had the paint job of what looked like a Reaper on it. 'A decorated ace, huh?' he thought before quickly transforming into humanoid mode and fired some more missiles and bolt shells at his new unknown rival.

The enemy craft turned off it's main thrusters and activated his maneuvering thrusters. It made a ninety-degree rotation to the left and fired a few hundred mass accelerated rounds at the missiles. The missiles exploded, and the bolt shells were detonated prematurely, leaving it unscathed. The craft then fired off more missiles in retaliation before breaking off, which were evaded by Jonas again.

As Jonas vectored himself for another strike, something of psychic origin hit him hard. His head felt like being hammered into a slag of meat, his urge for blood and vengeance suddenly increased tenfold, and he finally lost control of himself. Screaming a feral howl that would make the Space Wolves quiver, he pushed his Valkyrie to it's absolute limit. Accelerating at speeds prohibited by the system's limiters, he instantly caught up with the enemy ace and fired.

* * *

As Arminius banked left after firing off his missiles at the aliens' ace pilot, he detected a strange energy reading on the area of explosion. Looking at it through his rear camera, he was shocked to find the enemy ace alive, and he was glowing dark red... Dark blood red. 'What the hell?' He thought while the ace fired at him with his cannon uncontrollably, and a few rounds managed to hit his left missile pod.

Arminius immediately detached the pod before it exploded and activated his ventral thruster. It forced the fighter craft upside down and allowed the Turian ace to face the enemy fighter directly. This happened so fast that Arminius thought the enemy ace would not be able to react in time, so he decided to end it once and for all by firing his cannons.

He was wrong, and it almost cost him his life.

The enemy ace transformed into it's humanoid form and erected a shield of light on it's left forearm, it effortlessly deflected Arminius' shots while the right arm fired it's gun pod. The Turian tried banking right to avoid them but it was too late as the slower but insanely powerful projectiles of the enemy cannon hit his engines. Arminius immediately sealed his environmental protection armor and ejected.

As the cockpit opened and Arminius was sent tumbling into space, he could feel as if the enemy ace was glaring at him through it's cameras. It aimed the gun pod at him and it's barrels started to rotate. 'Oh spirits save me...' He closed his eyes and waited for his inevitable death. _One. Two. Three._ Arminius opened his eyes, he wasn't dead. He looked at the enemy ace fighter, and was surprised to see two other similar crafts struggling to restrain it while another came for him, mechanical hands opened like the jaw of a Thresher Maw.

'What in the spirits was that?' He thought before the blackness of the mechanical hand consumed him as it captured him for spirits know what purpose.

* * *

The Valkyries touched the hangar deck, and an entire squad of Blood Angels and Omegon himself stood in front of it, he had teleported to the Blood Angels' ship to learn what happened. When the cockpit of Jonas' craft opened, and the blood craving Centurion leaped out of it while swinging his Power Glaive. Omegon immediately dodged the strike while holding the Glaive still with his armored gauntlet.

"Wake up, Centurion!" He yelled while gesturing the other legionaries to stay out of it, he then ripped the Glaive off the uncontrolled Blood Angel's hands and threw it afar. The Blood Angel didn't reach for another weapon, instead he rushed towards the Primarch with his two fists, both of which were easily evaded by the Primarch. When Omegon was cornered by some crates, Jonas began pulling insane punches. One of them even punched through an entire crate of bolters, whose individual strength was enough to resist the power of a sonic bolt round.

'Emperor's grace, what kind of power was that?' Omegon thought before pulling his own carefully measured punch in order to ensure the Centurion's survival. It made it's intended effect. Jonas went unconscious and slid down the floor, the noble and angelic facial features of the gene son of Sanguinius ruined by intense nose bleeding and a broken jaw.

Omegon tapped into the vox. "Bring me a Sanguinary Priest and another three squads to secure the Centurion." He ordered before ordering another teleportation back to his ship, for he had a void battle to finish. Once he was on the bridge, he immediately barked for a report. One of the bridge crewmen turned to him.

"My Lord, the front fleet has reported immense success in the destruction of the enemy fleet. They are now maintaining a five thousand kilometer distance with us and are securing the front from further assaults. Our left flank is facing some pressure, Stanford informs that they are receiving acceptable losses and that our long range bombardments have helped him greatly."

The officer took a breath. "As for our right flank, it would seem that the enemy knows of our strategy and are pushing hard, reinforcements may be needed to stem the tide of ships."

"Inform Vice Admiral Heinz to reinforce our right flank and inform the rest of the fleet to press towards the planet. We shall blockade this planet in preparations for the Ultramarines to invade and occupy, as well as using it as a bargaining chip for future negotiations! What about Hudson's fleet?" He ordered and asked.

"R. Admiral Hudson's fleet has successfully disabled all but one of the evacuation ships and his naval troopers are in the process of boarding and commandeering the ships, he reports heavy resistance from civilians but none of them have resulted in deaths on both sides... yet." He dutifully reported while adding the last word as his thoughts regarding the situation.

Omegon decided to ignore it as he considered it a possibility. "Good, contact the Ultramarines and the Blood Angels, they should be ready for some revenge by now."

* * *

"All hands, we will be exiting slipstream space in thirty seconds. Report to your designated positions and prepare for battle!" Albionus stood up and moved to address his recently replenished company. The ten thousand legionaries of his company stood at attention upon seeing their captain. Using an emergency stasis field that was erected above Shanxi after the battle, Albionus and the surviving legionaries took their time in a compound to receive the newest upgrades in their biology and technology. The upgrades granted them new powers and more tactical choices, which he had yet to test.

"Legionaries!" He started. "At Shanxi, we took humiliating losses; we failed in our duty to protect civilians; we failed to protect our own soil. But because of our failures, we have grown stronger!" He said while flexing his new bionic arm, it had an integrated plasma beam gun, making it a powerful tool in many situations.

"We received new upgrades and new weapons; we have been given the chance to train in new tactics designed for our new biology and powers; we have been fueled with immense desire to remove the stain of our failures, and today we haven finally been given permission to do so!"

He pulled his newly forged Power Spatha and raised it high. "Today, we march for Shanxi!"

"We march for Shanxi!"

"I know you would. Now, report to your designated transports and prepare for battle!"

Albionus then entered his Overlord dropship with two squads of Ultramarine Veterans, who are armed with combi-bolt rifles for maximum firepower. "Attention passengers this is your pilot speaking." The Ultramarine pilot of the Overlord said, gaining the attention of his passengers and fellow battle brothers.

"According to the plan, we will be launching in twenty seconds along with the other Captains of the Heroes of Shanxi," He made a cough, he was still unaccustomed to their newly given nickname despite being a good one. "And we will land right in the middle of the city, and you will go out guns blazing. Got it?"

There was no reply, but the pilot went on anyway. "Now buckle up, brothers, we're going in!" The Overlord then detached from it's clamps and descended towards the planet, followed by hundreds of other transports." The ship burned through the planet's atmosphere, but was unscathed due to the hardlight projectors projecting a shield in front of them and no less than thirty seconds later, they were flying above the planet.

The Ultramarines linked their HUDs to the ship's cameras and inspected their battleground, it was beautiful. "Emperor's grace, this place is beautiful!" A veteran remarked. Albionus had to disagree with his statement, there were waterfalls and clear rivers; there were massive and green landscapes of various scales; there were lush forests everywhere. It wasn't beautiful, it was paradise.

Just as the supersoldiers were marveling at the sight, the thunderhawk next to them exploded, leaving a burnt hulk of metal and charred corpses free falling through the sky. "Status report!" Albionus barked.

"Multiple AA batteries detected! We can't get close to the city without losing at least one fifth of our landing force!" The pilot reported.

"Switch to plan B and get us to the outskirts!"

"Roger that!"

The transports ships immediately dispersed and went for the forests in the planet. "Alright legionaries, prepare yourselves! Pilot, open all hatches on my mark!"

The transport ship touched the ground. "Mark!"

The hatches opened, and the Ultramarines rushed out with fingers on the trigger. Scanning the area, the legionaries assumed the area was clear. They then began a long march to the enemy city while the transport ships retreated to a safer location. As the Ultramarines reached the city's outer perimeter, multiple gunshots were heard.

The Ultramarines immediately opened fire as more gunshots began coming their way, The newly inducted legionaries were doing well beyond expectations, they were conserving their ammo well. "Inceptors! Enemy forces engaged, begin orbital insertion!" He called out through the vox.

"Roger that, Albionus." Gordon replied.

Albionus could see hundreds of dots on the sky, each of them being an Inceptor. "Legionaries, suppression fire! Let our wrath be known!" He said while firing his bolt pistol and his plasma beam gun. The Ultramarines fired all their armaments, from the simple but lethal bolters to the hyper-advanced and highly destructive Arc guns, the Turians threw bodies at them at Shanxi and now they shall give them energies of death.

The Turian defenses held, their soldiers fighting till the end. That was until they saw their impending doom descending upon them.

* * *

"High Captain Gordon, targets detected. What are your orders?" An Inceptor asked.

"Terminate with extreme prejudice, restrain any unarmed combatants for judging." He replied.

The Inceptors then lit the ground up with their assault bolters, these bolters consumed bolt rounds like a thirsty man gulping water down his throat and they shredded Turians down by the hundreds. As the Inceptors began touching the ground, nearly a thousand Turians had already been killed.

Gordon could hear Albionus barking orders to his troops in the vox while swinging his Power Longsword at a Turian unfortunate enough to be in it's reach. The blade made a clean and deep cut to the Turian's chest, exposing his internal organs and making him yell in pain. Gordon then punched his arm into his guts and ripped out his heart, ensuring an agonising death.

As Gordon was about to order the Inceptors to advance due to the Turian forces beginning to retreat, a voice began speaking in the vox. "High Captain, it is I, Honorius! Life sign scanners have detected an unusual amount of Turians moving, they range from slow heart beats... To rapid but weaker ones."

Gordon already knew what he meant. "All units, this is High Captain Gordon speaking! Civilians are in the crossfire, cease all fire for any form of firearms at once!" He waved his Longsword to attract the surrounding Legionaries' attention.

"I said cease fire, Emperor damn you!"

Slowly but surely, the Legionaries stopped firing and held their positions. "Finally, thank you!" He shouted to the Legionaries with the intent of scolding them and showing them genuine gratitude. "Now Honorius, are there any civilians or injured personnel you could see scattered near our positions?" It took a long time for Honorius to respond, but the answer was enough to compel Gordon into action.

"Affirmative, scanners confirmed that you got at least a thousand life signs holding up in a rather large basement, whose entrance should be in a... Restaurant, I suppose?" He seemed uncertain but Gordon didn't care and was getting frustrated.

"Just send me the damn coordinates and I'll move to investigate."

"Roger that."

Gordon's HUD then generated a waypoint on his map and directed him towards the shortest route to get there. "Squad Ramirez, with me! I want everyone forming a perimeter at this area, no one in or out! Captain Albionus, you have command until I return." Gordon then began his short journey, followed by the eight Inceptors of Squad Ramirez.

As the small team reached the designated building, they found the entrance. Gordon kicked it down and moved in while the rest of the squad stood by outside, his Longsword was alos in his grip, ready to strike at a moment's notice. He then walked down a stairway and knocked down another door, this time he found the civilians, who were afraid of his presence. "Albionus, send me a few squads please. We got civilians here, some are in need to medical assistance."

"Roger that, Squads Marcus, Aurius and Fenix are on the way, eta two mikes."

Gordon then approached one of the younger people of the civilians, a child. The child instantly darted to his mother, who growled at the High Captain. "Stay. Away. From us." She said in Turian, the other mothers and even some of the adolescents stood up in support of her, each of them holding an apparatus that posed no threat to the Astartes present.

"Stay calm, we will not attack you unless your actions threatens our lives." Gordon calmly said in perfect Turian while his helmet retracted to his neck. He sheathed his sword and activated his scanners.

"Are there any wounded here? I have troops coming in to treat any injured."

Although none answered, Gordon could tell from the eyes of the Turians that there were wounded in the room, and they were on the other side of the room. "Step aside ma'am!" He said while walking through the crowd. The woman didn't budge as she raised her weapon for a strike on the Captain's head. The Captain effortlessly held it in place and bent it with his powerful grip, he then threw it away and continued forward.

"Don't go there!" The woman pleaded but Gordon paid no heed to her plea, when he reached the other side of the room, he ripped the door off and saw a few dozen wounded Turian soldiers.

He immediately contacted Squad Ramirez to help steady the crowd while he began administering first aid to the Turians. He walked by the first Turian's side, "I am High Captain Gordon of the Ultramarines, what is your name and where are you injured?" He politely asked.

The Turian groaned in pain before looking at the Captain with fear. "Wh... Why should I tell you? And why are you even helping me?"

"To answer your first question: I need basic information to identify you so that when you are healed f your wounds, you will be reunited with your people without the need for paperwork. And for the second: We are not barbarians, we have a code of honor that must be followed to ensure a good conduct in the military. So can you do me a favor and allow me to help?"

The Turian scowled at the reply, but gave his consent anyway. The other Legionaries began arriving to help the injured Turian soldiers as Gordon finished ceasing the Turian's blood loss. "Alright, you'll live for now. What is your name, soldier?"

"Castis... Castis Vakarian."

"Well then, Castis. Lets get moving, shall we?" Gordon held out his giant hand, and the injured soldier turned prisoner of war gladly accepted it.


	9. Quick Notice

**Hello guys,**

My ME x GoW fic, Mass Effect: War for Freedom is out! I hope you guys would like it better than the inconsistent storyline I made with the Human Domination! Remember to leave a review there to speak out your thoughts too if you read it!

Thanks for reading.

 **Your Fatty Neighborhood Kevin**


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